


Oh Where Do We Begin (the rubble or our sins)

by actualskeleton



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nightmares, Redemption, Take A Hammer And Fix The Canon, bi disaster Yuugi Mutou, idk how tags work might add more later, tkb gets an actual Name, to hell with canon i do what I want, vaguely implied multishipping to be addressed later (I'd like this to be a series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-23 15:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20342773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualskeleton/pseuds/actualskeleton
Summary: After the Memory World RPG, the Thief King, free of Zorc's influence, finds himself still attached to the Millennium Ring, still in the possession of one Ryou Bakura, with nowhere to go, no meaning to his existence, and a lot of lingering guilt. Meanwhile, Yuugi and Atem prepare for the duel between them meant to decide Atem's fate, and both discover they're unhappy with their options. Ryou, still trying to find meaning in his involvement with the Items, makes it his mission to get everyone the ending they deserve. As with most things in the post s0-verse, things get settled with a children's trading card game.NOTE: even though it says 11/12 this is a completed work. All 12 chapters are here.





	1. (i woke up) No Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Oh Gods Here We Go. My first published fic in the Longest time, ever on this site. time to Screem this is a hot mess. I don't know what else to put here so let's. just. go.
> 
> ...  
OH! also, keep in mind, I call Ryou Bakura by his surname, Bakura, most if not all the time in this fic. I know the fandom has a habit of calling him Ryou and "Yami Bakura," Bakura, for brevity and clarity's sake, but since the entity known as 'Yami Bakura' no longer exists in this fic, the distinction seemed unnecessary and I wanted to let insomnia son have his own name back. K Thanks now we're good <3

The thief king wasn't quite sure why he was still here. He had fully expected Zorc's claws, as embedded in his very soul as they were, would have dragged him into whatever dark abyss of nonexistence the dark god had been banished to himself. He was also rather confused why he was here, geographically, tethered to the Millennium Ring hanging on a hook by the bed of the not-quite child whose life he and Zorc had spent nearly the last decade ruining. Why the pharaoh and his odd little host had allowed Ryou Bakura to wander off with the Ring again was entirely beyond him. Maybe since they thought it was no longer haunted it no longer seemed to be a threat, maybe they just didn't notice. The answers to why didn't matter so much, the thief king supposed. He was a graverobber not a philosopher.

If he wanted ‘why’s so badly maybe a good place to start would be why he had been so delighted in causing the suffering of the one sleeping in the bed before him. Was it merely because this was someone the pharaoh's vessel cared about and, through a chain reaction, hurting this boy would indirectly hurt the pharaoh? Was it jealousy that this boy had so much in his life that the thief king never had? Was it just simple pleasure in causing someone pain? Even though it had been him doing these things, he couldn't tell. Nothing he had done for nearly as long as he could remember made any sense to him.

Bakura's otherwise peaceful sleeping features twitched, and the boy shifted such that the still healing scar on his left arm became visible. The scar from the wound the thief king himself had inflicted upon the body they once shared, not much more than a month ago, if that. One of several over the course of the years the boy had the Ring. The thief king winced, a pang of guilt shooting through his incorporeal form. His fault.

Still, feeling something besides rage and hatred was refreshing after 3 millennia, even if the replacements were guilt and regret. He couldn't say he didn't dislike the pharaoh still, but the collateral damage alone from his one man war was not worth his grudge against someone who hadn't yet been born when the atrocity was committed on his people. Nothing was worth the  collateral damage he had incurred. The people maimed, the innocents killed, the lives destroyed, all on some level his fault. Nothing was worth that.

Ryou shifted again and this time his eyes fluttered open, peering through the darkness in the thief king's direction. The soft, sleepy expression on his face was one the thief king was unused to seeing in those features, only ever having really seen that face in the mirror when he was wearing it. The thief king didn't feel entirely right, languishing in that soft gaze, watching the boy, knowing full well Bakura couldn't see him watching. 

“Hmm? I thought you were supposed to be gone? Weird."

The thief king tensed. Apparently he was visible.  _ “You- you can see me?” _

“Well. Yes.” 

_ “Don’t you… hate me?” _ Bakura’s sleepy indifference filled the thief king with confusion. If the roles were reversed, he would have been livid, but Ryou just sat up a little and wrapped his blankets around himself, rubbing his bleary eyes with the back of his hand, ready to have a casual chat with the ghost who had possessed him and almost gotten him and his friends killed numerous times.

“No. Hating you isn't worth the energy. You seem… different now. I can’t say I’m thrilled with how you’ve behaved in the past, but I think whatever happened with Yuugi at the museum changed you. Honestly, if you’re willing to behave yourself now, then I have no problem with you sticking around. It’d certainly be more interesting than just going to school and living my life like a normal high school student.”

For a moment, the thief king could only gape at him. He wasn’t sure what kind of answer he’d been expecting but for some reason it wasn’t that. 

_ “I almost killed you.” _

“Yep.”

_ “And tried to kill the people you care about many times.” _

“Uh-huh.”

_ “Nothing I’ve done to you has been good in any way.” _

Bakura shrugged.

_ “Why don’t you hate me?” _

Bakura shrugged again. “Like I said, it's not worth it. You seem different. Like you're only half there now, or something. Or there was something there before that's not anymore. And you're talking to me. You didn't talk before, just took what suited you when you wanted." Bakura smiled, ever so softly." Plus, I got some cool scars out of the whole thing, and since I’m not actually dead and neither are my friends I don’t feel like I really have anything to complain about.” He pushed up the sleeve of his shirt to once again reveal the scar from that day on the pier. The thief king winced, still feeling guilty despite Bakura’s obvious pride in the scar. Ignoring the ghost's reaction, Bakura dropped his sleeve and pulled up his shirt, revealing five more scars in a “U” pattern on his chest. Scars from the points of the Ring, embedding themselves into his body. Bakura almost beamed. “They’re neat, right?”

The thief king found himself speechless once again. What a strange boy, he had spent all this time around him without ever even bothering to get to know him. The vessel wasn’t important, he had told himself. He was disposable. How wrong he had been. 

Bakura put his shirt back down and yawned. Rubbing his eyes, he took a tired look at the alarm clock on his bedside table, which read “ 3:14 ”. “Oh dear. I have class in the morning don’t I?”

_ “You should be sleeping!” _ The thief king blurted. Though he didn’t know anything about what modern science had dictated was a reasonable and healthy amount of sleep, he did know that Bakura was clearly tired, and when you’re tired, you sleep. Especially since Bakura apparently had something to do once the sun came up. Especially since he had missed so much sleep during the thief king’s tenure as a tenant in his body.

“You aren’t. Wrong.” Bakura frowned. “I want to keep talking though. I'm curious. I want to know more about you, why you're…” His words trailed off into another yawn.

_ “We can talk more later then, if that is what you really want.”  _ The thief king certainly didn’t understand the boy’s motives but he couldn’t say he didn’t also want to spend more time with him. To make up for lost time, and missed opportunities. However. “ _ You need to rest now. Sleep. I’ll still be here when you wake up.” _ He had no way to guarantee that what he said was true, but if it would get Bakura to sleep he would say a lot of things.

Bakura eyed him warily but reluctantly laid back down. “I suppose you’re right. Mm. Goodnight then.”

  
_ “Good night. Sleep well.” _ The thief king found himself staying there, watching Bakura sleep, keeping vigil until sunrise.


	2. It's Your Pride (that's keeping us still so far apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuugi POV chapter  
I should have mentioned the chapters change POV  
well now u know

“Something’s bothering you, what’s wrong?” Yuugi had elected to walk home “alone” for once. He glanced over at the specter of his other self - no, Atem, whose skin had changed to a darker tone now that he remembered what he looked like when he had been alive. His face held the shadows of a troubled expression, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

_ ‘Nothing I’m-’ _

“You’re not fine, something’s wrong and I want you to tell me about it.” Atem avoided his gaze but Yuugi pressed on. “I don’t want us to be keeping secrets from each other now, especially since-”

He cut off, leaving the words ‘we have so little time left together’ hanging in the air, unspoken. Both of them swallowed uncomfortably. “And, anyway there’s no reason for it,” Yuugi finished, feeling like an idiot. 

_ ‘It’s just - this shouldn’t be your burden to bear. I don’t want to spend what time - what time we have left dwelling on it.’ _ Atem frowned, a frustrated flush creeping across the image of his skin.  _ ‘There are things that I have to come to terms with, things I didn’t realize that I have to deal with now. But it shouldn’t be something you have to worry about! I can deal with it later!’ _

“Clearly you can’t,” Yuugi grumbled. “Maybe I can help you! Just… tell me what it is, what’s bothering you? I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t handle. After all we’ve been through, I can deal with it. I can help you.” Yuugi wanted to lay a reassuring hand on Atem’s shoulder. “Like it or not, your burdens are my burdens, too.”

Atem crossed his arms and scowled, irritated at himself for being unable to push this away so his partner wouldn’t have to deal with it.  _ ‘When we get home. I don’t want to talk about it out in the open like this.’ _ He disappeared, back into the Puzzle.

Yuugi began to walk faster. It seemed to take an eternity for them to get home and into Yuugi’s room, finally with enough privacy to talk. Yuugi dropped his schoolbag beside his desk and marched over to his bed, sitting cross legged with his back against the wall and holding the Puzzle on its chain around his neck, just above his lap. The tips of his fingers were pressed against the cool, smooth metal, feeling the minute grooves where the various pieces of it joined together. As he closed his eyes, the room around him fell away and he opened them to a different room, slightly larger with vibrant, warm walls, and toys and games cluttering the floor. His soul room.

He got up and headed over to the door, which opened to a hallway of infinite grey nothingness to either side, with one more, much more cryptic looking door directly across the hallway. Resolutely, Yuugi crossed the hallway and opened the other door, the door to the pharaoh’s soul room. 

It was different than the last time he’d been in it. It was smaller, not as much the infinite Escher-esque labyrinth of staircases and doors as it had been previously, though still not exactly simple. Currently a large chamber comprised the main room, with halls and stairs leading off of it, and an altar at the far end of it, before which his partner sat in the clothes he wore as pharaoh, faced away from Yuugi.

Yuugi walked the length of the room to stand behind Atem. Most of the walls were bright and clean, well lit with sconces flickering with flames. Some sections, however, were less so, the sconces burnt out and the walls and floor smeared with suspicious-looking stains. The visual representation of his partner’s mental state, of how he saw himself, hurt.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” He put a hand on Atem’s shoulder and Atem's head snapped up to look up at him, his eyes filled with relief that he was no longer alone, but also pained that he found himself having to rely on Yuugi again, that he had to burden his partner like this. Yugi sat beside him.

“I want to help you. You're clearly suffering over something, what's wrong?” 

Atem avoided his eyes. “I didn't want you to have to deal with this. It's my problem, I should be able to-”

“You should be able to tell your partner about your problems so we can work through things together.” Yuugi scooted closer, enforcing his belonging in Atem's space, both mental and metaphysical. 

“There's just. So much I should've done. So many things I didn't get the chance to do, so much I didn't try hard enough to do. This whole thing started because -. My uncle ordered the massacre of an entire village! My father completely froze when he found out. The man I spent my life idolizing, wasted to nothing without doing anything about it. That's the legacy I inherited! And when it was my turn to rule, I didn't do much better! I should've… I should've known, should've been able to do something about it. Instead, I just let more people get themselves killed to protect me, I put you and all your friends in danger, I-”

“Stopped the end of the world? Several times, might I add.” Yuugi knew his partner had to get this off his chest and deal with it, but he wasn't going to allow him to spiral into self-deprecation. He put a hand on Atem's arm. Atem tensed up at the touch but then slightly, barely, leaned into it, probably not even consciously. He was clearly fighting back tears.

“You helped. More than helped, you did at least half the work while fixing my mistakes for me. I'd be nothing without you.” Atem scrunched his hands into the material on his lap, unsuccessfully trying to stop them from shaking. “I can't handle anything by myself.”

“You don't have to,” Yuugi reassured. “Nobody can. If I had never met you I- I'd still be that scared kid sitting in the corner of the class, no friends, playing games by myself and being lonely. I needed your help to get out of that, to do something with myself. People can't live in a vacuum. You shouldn't expect yourself to. Of course you need someone there for you, because everyone does.”

“But I'm not everyone!” Atem snapped, tensing up, pulling away. His spine straightened, his shoulders pulled inwards as though he was trying to become both larger and smaller at the same time, ignoring the tears now actively streaming down his face. “I'm - I was supposed to be a leader! To be stronger, and better, someone worth looking up to! I couldn't even protect the people under my command, fix the problems within my own country, I - I…” His words got lost in shuddered gasps as he couldn’t hold back any more, his hands covered his face and Atem started sobbing uncontrollably. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, almost trying to physically shove back the tears.

Yuugi tentatively reached out again, this time moving to wrap his arms around the crying former pharaoh. The moment he made the barest of contact, Atem collapsed into his arms, his head on Yuugi’s shoulder, curled in on himself and pressing into Yuugi as though his life depended on the contact.

Yuugi pulled his partner closer, adjusting him into a more comfortable position for both of them. Gradually the sobs slowed, and Atem lowered his hands, in favor of burying his face into the front of Yuugi's shoulder. He hated being vulnerable, Yuugi knew, and the fact that he was allowing Yuugi to comfort him like this felt like a huge step in the right direction. As much as both of them rattled on about friendship, Atem was still clearly afraid to place his full reliance on the people he cared about. When it came down to it he still thought he should have to face things like this alone.

Yuugi found himself having to brush away some if his own wayward tears.

“You did what you could under the circumstances,” Yuugi said quietly once the majority of the crying had subsided. “Could things have been better? Probably. But you're one person, you can't control everyone and everything. Given more time you would've done better-”

“But what if I wouldn't have? If - If I had never met you, there's a good chance that I would be just like them, that I wouldn't have actually fixed anything.”

“But that's not what happened, so dwelling on ‘what if's’ is pointless.” Yuugi laid his cheek on Atem's shoulder. “You should know better than anyone that the past can't be changed. You learn from it, you move -” his breath caught and he had to quickly correct himself, “- forward. You move forward and you try to do better next time. Though hopefully the apocalypse doesn't have a next time but. You know. The point is you can't blame yourself for circumstances out of your control. Know what you would've changed about the situation. Know what about your reactions you would've liked to change if you had known more earlier and not been caught off guard. Build from there.” Atem nodded. “The past doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. How you react is what determines what kind of person you are, and you’re not reacting like someone who's actually bad.”

Atem lifted his head to look at Yuugi, his eyes still slightly bleary and red. “When did you get so infinitely wise, partner?”

Yuugi smiled softly and laid his forehead against Atem's. “I've had some help.”

Atem laughed. “I'm sure.” He closed his eyes, and slowly, so did Yuugi, and they sat like that for a good while. 

Gradually the scene faded, and when Yuugi opened his eyes again he was in his room, on his bed, the Puzzle gripped so tight in his hands that his fingertips were white. He knew everything that took place in the soul rooms wasn’t physically real, but he swore he could still feel the damp of Atem’s tears on his shirt, and the cold shape of Atem’s crown pressed into his forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 2 Title: Hiding by Florence and the Machine


	3. (i'm a lonelier) Version Of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bakura POV this time :)

Ryou Bakura flopped on his bed. All day at school with the Ring and not a single incident. No life or death games, no hostile takeovers of his body, not even a single murderous impulse from the spirit of the Ring. It felt. Nice. 

“So what happened? Last night you said we could talk later, it’s later now. So. What changed? Why are you different?” Bakura said aloud to the empty room, hoping this was how it worked. Yuugi seemed to have no trouble communicating with the pharaoh whenever he wanted so this shouldn't be too different.

After a beat, the spirit of the ring manifested next to the bed, in front of and above him. Though scruffy, he certainly wasn’t bad-looking, white hair similar to Bakura’s own but shorter and less well maintained framing his dark, suspicious face. He had a scar over his right eye. Charming.  


_ ‘Why do you even still have that?’ _ He gestured toward Bakura’s chest, where the Ring laid placidly as though it hadn’t been an instrument of murder and torture for the past 3000 years.  _ ‘I’d think the pharaoh and his vessel would’ve taken it.’ _

“I asked first.” Bakura sat up. “But fine, we trade, answers for answers. Tell me what happened in the museum while you were in control and I’ll tell you what happened when I was.” He felt the twitch of a coy, mischievous smile cross his lips. He was glad the spirit had postponed this conversation; now that he was coherent and fully awake he could actually ask the interesting questions. “I want to know everything.”

The spirit of the Ring sighed.  _ ‘You want to know what happened in the museum? Fine, I tried to kill all your friends, again, and I lost. Again. And the - thing that was giving me power, no not that,’ _ as Bakura gestured to the Ring.  _ ‘Something much worse. Much older, probably. I sold myself away to this thing a long, long time ago, thinking I had nothing left to lose. That thing was banished when we lost against the pharaoh and somehow I… wasn’t.’ _

“Details,” Bakura murmured, unmoved by the spirit’s apparent desire to skirt around the subject. He pulled a notebook and pen out of the drawer of his bedside table. 

_ ‘You’re taking notes?’ _

“Yes, this is fascinating, now give me more details. What exactly happened in the museum before I woke up.”

The spirit sighed again.  _ ‘We played through the pharaoh’s memories. I’m sure you remember the cursed version of the Monster World rpg I had your friends play so long ago?’ _

“Mm. Vaguely. I’d been hoping for a non cursed game of Monster World, so thanks for that.”   
_ ‘Yes, well. It was like that, but with the pharaoh’s memories of the events of the ancient past as the setting, from the first time we fought. When what you know as the Millenium Items were somewhat new, freshly forged with the blood of my people.’ _ Bakura’s head snapped up, he caught sight of the snarl clearly visible on the spirit’s face.  _ ‘We played through his memories of our battles, with some changes thanks to… modern input, let’s say. And as he did the first time, the pharaoh won. Except this time, instead of sealing me and my dark master away, he banished it. Completely. Destroyed it would maybe be more accurate. Zorc. And then I woke up here, still attached to the Ring, alone, free from Zorc for the first time in thousands of years, almost as long as I can remember.’ _

Bakura forgot to keep taking notes, caught up on one particular phrase. “Wait the blood of your people? Do you mean the spirit of Yuugi’s puzzle, the pharaoh…?” he trailed off, unable to even voice the horror that implied. Bakura was a longtime fan of the occult and the creepy but real ritual human sacrifice? In practice? That was too far, even for him.

_ ‘No, that was not that pharaoh’s own work, he was too young at the time, possibly not even alive yet. It was the work of those who came before him. His father, and that one’s brother. They ordered a massacre on the town I was born in, full of thieves and vagrants they said. Full of people whose lives held no value to them except in being used to fuel the magic of those damned Items.’ _ The Ring spirit’s face seemed frozen in a pained grimace even as Bakura couldn’t help but breathe a slight sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure he could’ve forgiven his friend for becoming so close to someone who would actually commit such an atrocity in person. A rather odd standard to be held by someone actively becoming friends with a mass murdering ghost, he mused, but that was, clearly, different. 

_ ‘I often said I was the only survivor of that night,’ _ the spirit continued, apparently ignorant to Bakura’s internal commentary, locked into his own world of horror and pain with the retelling of his story.  _ ‘But if I’m telling the truth that’s never been completely right. I died then just as fucking much as everyone else did, though instead of at a soldier’s blade it was by my own words, my own calling out for help from something I didn’t understand in my rage and grief and giving myself over to it and letting it use me as its own weapon. That’s when I died.’ _

There was a long pause. Bakura thought idly that perhaps he should try to comfort the spirit in some way, reassure him, but what do you say to that? You don’t. There’s nothing positive or hopeful to be said to something like that.

“Well, um, my story was much less… dramatic. I just walked away with the Ring tucked under my shirt.” Bakura finally broke the silence.

The spirit looked up at him.  _ ‘You’re kidding.’ _

“Nope. Once I woke up and everyone was sure I was alright, they were too caught up in everything that had just happened to notice me just, button up my shirt over the Ring. And then I left.” Bakura shrugged. 

The spirit looked at him for a long moment, with an expression Bakura couldn't read on his face.  _ ‘Amazing,’  _ he breathed.  _ ‘I'm not sure if I should feel bad because it looks like my life choices have been rubbing off on you or if I should just be really really impressed.’ _

Bakura couldn't keep a faint blush from creeping across his pale face at the strange praise. “Well. I mean really it's just that, as much as it belongs to anyone, the Ring belongs to me. My father gave it to me. I've had it for a long time. And sure it's full of dark magic and ancient terror and I guess the blood of innocents and all that but, and this isn't to say I don't love my friends or appreciate what they were trying to do, but I've gotten rather tired of everyone trying to take the Ring away from me. Like I'm some kind of child. I get that I think they were trying to protect me but I'm involved in this as much as they are. Arguably more than Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu. The Ring was my mystery to solve, not theirs. I kind of wanted to prove I could handle it, so I got good at taking it back.” He looked down at his feet, sock-covered toes scuffing against his bedroom floor. “I'm not sure I would necessarily call that your influence.”

_ ‘Hmf. Maybe.’ _

Bakura looked back up at the spirit, who was looking away now, clearly caught up in his own thoughts. After several moments he broke the silence again. “That got depressing very quickly.”

_ ‘Mm.’ _

After several more moments Bakura realized he wasn't going to get much more out of this conversation and laid back on his bed, letting his thoughts swirl idly in his head like colored ink in water.

_ ‘Don't you have things to be doing?’ _ This time it was the Ring spirit who broke the silence, and Bakura jolted to attention.

“What do you mean?

_ ‘I don't, - you mentioned something you had to do tonight a few times today when people asked.’ _ The spirit seemed to be doing his best to sound bored.

“Oh, yeah, I have some math homework but that can wait. That was mostly just an excuse to get my afternoon to myself.” Bakura blinked and sat up abruptly. “Wait, you were paying attention when I was at school today?”

_ ‘A- a little,’ _ the spirit admitted.  _ ‘I, drifted in and out. Is that wrong? I can not do that and just stay… out, if you want.’ _

“No, it's not a problem. I'm just surprised anything about my day to day life would interest you at all.”

_ “It doesn't!”  _ The spirit snapped, defensive, a little too quick. He reconsidered his statement, and warily started over.  _ “I mean. Not that you're boring, or anything like that. Just. The minor details of your life, or life in this world, really, don't interest me a whole lot.” _ He scrubbed at his hair irritably, trying to figure out how to explain it.

“It just feels like a bunch of background noise that you'd rather tune out but if there's nothing better to do in the immediate term you might as well listen in?” Bakura offered.

_ “I guess.” _

“Welcome to the club. Feels the same to me, too.” The spirit gave Bakura an incredulous look as he smiled, kind of sadly. “Day to day life in the modern era is, honestly? Really boring.”

_“Is that why you wanted to keep the Ring so badly? You were _bored_?”_

“Perhaps a little.” Bakura mumbled and flopped back on his bed again, rolling over to turn his back to the spirit. Suddenly he was very tired. “That wasn't the only reason but. I guess it was _a_ reason.”

_ “This isn’t Happy Fun Adventure Time. People died.  _ You  _ almost died.”  _ The spirit didn't growled disapprovingly.

“Change of subject: what should I call you? I can't just keep calling you Ring Spirit in my head.” Bakura turned his head to look at the spirit over his shoulder, ignoring his remarks. It wasn’t like Bakura didn’t know those things already.

_ “I don't see why you couldn’t. I don't have a name, at least, not one I can remember. Name wasn't important when I was Zorc's puppet. Still isn't, really.” _

Bakura rolled back over. “I guess I'll have to give you one then.” Within moments of making this declaration, Ryou Bakura was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 3 Title: Rat-a-Tat by Fall Out Boy


	4. I'm Sorry (to get sentimental tonight)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atem POV :D  
This makes one chapter in each character's point of view, after this there's not a regular cycle of POVs but everyone does get the same number of chapters... my chapter lengths are super inconsistent tho and for that I'm sorry

Yuugi was in class, so that should've made this the perfect opportunity for Atem to sit in his soul room and work on building his deck. It was the perfect opportunity, actually. The fact that his mind kept spinning off onto subjects other than the merits of whatever spell card he had in his hand was not the fault of the timing.

Focusing just happened to be very difficult with everything that had happened in the past few months.

And with everything that was going to happen once school let out for break.

Though Atem didn't have a physical body at the moment, he still felt knots in his stomach turning over sickeningly. If he did have a physical form, the chances that he'd be retching right now were high.

As it was he could only sit down behind the altar in his soul room and try to steady himself from there.

The ceremonial duel was to be held to ensure that Yuugi was ready to be without Atem. Of that, Atem had no doubt; of the two of them, Atem felt, Yuugi had always been the superior. He would be fine.

But what if  _ he _ wasn't ready to be without  _ Yuugi _ ?

It felt like there were two Atems now, ironically. One part of him, that had been awakened when Yuugi solved the puzzle, was the side that was used to modern life and duel monsters and being Yuugi's other self. The other part of him only really emerged during the memory rpg, the ancient part of him that remembered living in Egypt and being pharaoh, and being the prince before that, learning magic with Mahad and Mana, sitting at his father's side in court so he could one day learn to lead, the part of him that felt these memories as yesterday rather than 3000 years ago.

Neither of them was ready to move on.

He wasn't ready to leave behind all the things of this era. He didn't want to leave all his friends, or modern foods, or modern games. He didn't want to have to give up living, enjoying life. Because in between all the death games, he realised, he really did enjoy living. But most of all, most importantly, he didn't want to give up Yuugi. 

Yuugi was his other self, his partner, his guiding light when he strayed and his closest friend. They knew each other intimately and trusted each other implicitly, and Atem didn't want to have to leave behind a bond like that. 

And for what? To go face his father in the field of reeds with the knowledge of everything that had happened? Knowing about Kul Elna, knowing about the source of the Millennium Items. Knowing that if his father and uncle had found another way to end the war, one that didn't involve the murder of civilians, then none of this would've happened.

And that was assuming his father had made it to the afterlife. Assuming the man who'd died from the weight of a massacred town on his heart had somehow made it past the scales and the judges and escaped the jaws of Ammit.

A secret part of Atem hoped his uncle, at least, had become prey to the Devourer.

Atem huffed and dragged his arms up to rest them on his knees, lifting his right hand just enough to look at the cards he had in it. He pulled out three cards, set them aside, and drew the remaining two closer to his face. He studied the inked renderings of his two closest childhood friends. Mahad would know what to do. Mana wouldn't waste time worrying like this. 

Atem wished he could ask them for advice. Seeing them was the only thing about all this that sounded remotely appealing. Seeing them he might be able to deal with, going through that door to march directly over to the pair of them, where they were surely waiting. Letting Mana gleefully tackle him and maybe, for once, hugging back just as hard, maybe spinning her around a bit this time. Sitting down with Mahad and leaning into him, putting an arm around him and resting his head on Mahad's shoulder. Lounging with both of them, enjoying each other's company, always within arm's reach of both of them. That would be nice.

It wasn't like this was something he could get out of, anyway. He couldn't keep sharing Yuugi's body forever, couldn't keep holding him back like this. So maybe, just maybe, if he just kept thinking about them, Mahad and Mana would carry him through this, and he could make peace with it. It wasn't like he had a choice. He may as well find what silver linings he could and hang tight to them.  


Atem hefted himself off the floor of his soul room. A feeling at the edge of his consciousness let him know that Yuugi was out of class, invited him to come out and talk.  _ In a little bit _ , he thought back,  _ just a few more minutes _ . A soft wave of feeling let him know Yuugi understood. He laid out the cards on the altar again, and made one more attempt at running through the combo he had been working on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 4 Title: The Overpass by Panic! at the Disco


	5. (we've gone) Way Too Fast For Way Too Long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Bakura POV!

“Bakura!” 

Bakura turned to see Yuugi waving for his attention and running to catch up to him after class. A sick churning turned in his stomach, more the Ring spirit’s fear than his own he thought. Regardless, he didn’t let it show on his face as he responded with a cheery smile. “Hello Yuugi! What’s up?”

“You doing okay?” Yuugi trotted the last few steps before adjusting his pace to match Bakura’s. “Eating enough and all that?”

“Hm? Yes I’ve been fine.” Bakura ignored the alarm bells that screamed in the voice of the Ring spirit in his mind, yelling that Yuugi was onto them. “You? I know you’ve been stressed as well lately, you need to be sure you take care of yourself and not just everyone else.”

Yuugi laughed sheepishly. “Yeah. If nothing else my mom and Grandpa make sure I eat enough and shower on a regular basis.”

“That’s good. Get enough sleep, too. Not that I can really talk on that,” Bakura laughed back.

“I’m doing my best.” Yuugi sighed and his tone changed. “Hey Bakura, there was something I’ve been meaning to ask you about, and I haven’t really- well I haven’t really wanted to, to be honest, but it’s becoming rather urgent. You… you wouldn’t happen to still have the Millenium Ring would you?”

Bakura looked down and Yuugi was looking back at him, biting the inside of his cheek and clearly fervently hoping for a negative answer. Bakura almost wished he could give one. Almost. “I do, actually,” he replied nonchalantly. The Ring spirit’s internal screaming reached fever pitch, mixed with confusion as to why Bakura would actually reveal this; the answer being, obviously, that Yuugi was his friend and lying to him didn't feel right and served no purpose. After a moment’s consideration, he reached into his shirt and fished the Ring out from where it hung around his neck. 

The look of disappointment on Yuugi’s face grew deeper, despite his attempts to hide it. “ _ Why? _ ”

Bakura shrugged.

“Why are you still  _ wearing _ it, too? I mean, I know the spirit in it is gone but it’s not like it’s  _ harmless _ , it’s still an incredibly dangerous dark magic artifact. I just-  _ why? _ ” Yuugi was lost for words, clearly.

“Oh, the spirit’s not gone, actually. Well, partially, I’m not sure he even has the power to possess me anymore, now that, Zorc, as I recall? Now that the monster part of what was in here is gone, the spirit that’s left is actually pretty calm. He’s not bad company.” Bakura smiled brightly, in utter contrast to the topic of conversation. 

“Bakura!” Yuugi stopped dead and Bakura only went another step and a half before stopping with him.

“What?”

“Do you-? Are you-?” Yuugi spluttered and tried again. “I’m worried about you! After everything that’s happened, and you just - It kinda feels like you’re trying to get yourself hurt again or something!” Yuugi’s eyes were filled with worry and Bakura was glad the others weren’t here, else he would be getting dogpiled with, in his eyes rather misguided, concern. 

“It’s nothing like that.” Bakura dropped the fake cheer as he looked away and started walking again, forcing Yuugi to either let him walk away or keep moving to keep up. “And you’re one to talk, from what I’ve heard you had it nearly as bad as I did when you first solved the Puzzle, but you still kept it.”

Yuugi chose to keep moving and had to trot to make up the few paces Bakura had gotten ahead of him. “I - that was different. What is it then? I genuinely can’t understand… this.”

“It’s... hard to explain.” Bakura sighed. The spirit seemed to have calmed down since Yuugi hadn’t made any moves to try to snatch the Ring, or to allow his other self take care of this situation in whatever way the pharaoh may have seen fit. “I’m still trying to understand, myself. Not- not why I keep wearing it, but why I ended up with it to begin with. Where I fit into all this. You and your other self, the Puzzle spirit. The pharaoh. You get along well yes?”

“Yeah, we’re- He’s my closest friend.”

“See? And you’re alike in a lot of ways, and you’re supposed to inherit his, what, his role in the world or something? Magical destiny and all that jazz? And you _worked_ to solve the Puzzle in the first place; that’s how your situation was  _ different _ , right. And the others are involved because you’re all close friends and they wanted to support you. Kaiba involved himself because he wanted to be better than you. And everyone else… Pegasus went looking for power to get something he wanted, Malik, and Isis and Rishid, they were raised in their roles. Everyone but me, everyone involved in this whole mess with the Millenium Items is here for a reason, did something to get here, but it’s like I’m some kind of spectator, just a puppet to get used and shoved aside when I’m not necessary, a placeholder, a filler. I want. To know. Why. I keep hoping I’ll get something out of this,” Bakura gestured towards the Ring, “that something will suddenly make sense or fall into place.”

“Has it yet?” Yuugi asked.

Bakura shook his head. His eyes were glued to the pavement in front of him. “This whole mess almost over and I still don’t understand a damn thing about it. It’s like I’ve been on autopilot this whole time, except worse. I’ve been in the middle of this for so long but I haven’t even been  _ involved _ . I’m so tired. I feel so fucking, _powerless_.” Bakura looked up suddenly and had to stop short as Yuugi got in front of him and stopped again, grabbing his wrists and drawing them up in front of him. 

Bakura’s hands were clenched in tight fists, which he hadn’t noticed, and as he stretched his fingers, he realized that a couple of his nails had bitten into his palms far enough to draw blood. He supposed it should hurt, but his threshold for actually feeling pain had always been a lot different than most people’s. It was higher, generally. It was hard to tell if this was because of the Ring, or if it was one of the reasons the Ring hadn’t killed him. He stared blankly at the red and white crescents embedded in his hands. “It doesn’t even matter anymore.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Yuugi murmured. His soft voice contrasted with the sharp look he shot up to cut off Bakura’s protests. “And no I’m not just saying that to make you feel better. I don’t have any answers for you, yet. But I’m sure we’ll figure it out. If you really think it’ll help, you can keep the Ring for now, until we have to go to Egypt, but, please, I beg you. Tell me if you need help, or if something happens. Be  _ careful _ .”

“I appreciate it but, no offense, I don’t need your permission to keep my own property, Yuugi. I get that you want to help, but please. I’m not a child.” Bakura tugged at his arms and Yuugi released his wrists with a frown. “I will let you know if anything happens, and I promise that the Ring will go with you to Egypt.” He had half a mind to go with Yuugi to Egypt himself, but he didn’t share this aloud. 

The pair of them started walking again, and passed most of the rest of the walk home in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 5 Title: Young and Menace by Fall Out Boy  
(they have good angsty lyrics don't judge me)


	6. I Know I Seem Shaky (these hands not fit for holding)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disaster Bi Yuugi time! Yuugi pov ofc  
this is probably the longest chapter in here so bear with me folx. Big Chungus of wordcounts and also feels here. I'm sorry

Yuugi woke up to a gentle nudging in his mind, his other self’s quiet insistence that it was awake time now. 

“It's a weekend, I can sleep in,” he mumbled into his pillow, lifting his hand to tap at the Millennium Puzzle like Atem was an alarm clock he was hitting snooze on. He could practically hear the endeared yet exasperated sigh that came in response.

_ ‘You have plans with your friends today’ _ , Atem reminded him, ‘ _ you have to get up and get ready _ .’

“Our friends,” Yuugi corrected, and rolled over to peer at his actual alarm clock. 8:52 “And we have more than an hour before they're supposed to be here, plenty of time for more sleep.” Yuugi burrowed further into his blankets, pleased with himself and his time management.

_ ‘You have to get dressed and eat breakfast’ _ , Atem insisted.

“Getting dressed shouldn't take that long and I can grab a granola bar or something on the way out,” Yuugi reasoned, not opening his eyes or moving at all.

_ 'If all you eat is a granola bar, you'll - we'll - be hungry all day. Also Anzu's coming, don't you want to put some thought into what you're wearing?' _

Yuugi rolled back over and glared at the Puzzle. How dare he use reason and logic and Yuugi's well known crush against him. He pouted.

“But sleeeeeeep.”

_ 'Yuugi please.' _

“ _ Sleeeeeeeeeeep _ .” He batted the Puzzle down from its hook and pulled it close, cuddling the gold pyramid to his chest. “Just a little more.”

That same sigh, clearly tired of his antics but still filled with warm, soft emotions. ‘ _ You're not even that sleepy anymore, partner, come on _ .’

It was Yuugi's turn to sigh and he sat up and stretched, yawning dramatically and altogether making a big show of how much effort getting up was taking. He slipped the chain of the Puzzle around his neck and Atem's spectral form appeared beside him, wearing the same pajamas as Yuugi and pinching the bridge of his nose. His hand did not completely hide the faint, fond smile on his lips. 

Yuugi shuffled out of bed and across the floor to his closet, beginning the search for an appropriate outfit for the day's activities. After a surprisingly fast fifteen minutes of holding various options up to be appraised by the mirror and his partner, Yuugi settled on a tank top and pair of jeans to wear with his usual jacket. 

Atem retreated back into the Puzzle to let Yuugi get dressed with some modicum of privacy, though the gesture seemed rather moot considering, well, everything. Not that, come to think of it, Yuugi particularly minded the idea of Atem knowing what he looked like with no clothes on. But still, getting dressed with an audience, no matter how familiar, was distracting. And apparently Yuugi was terribly prone to distraction this morning as he realized he had spent the last three minutes staring vacantly at his shirt and pondering the potential merits and flaws of Atem watching him get dressed, instead of putting said shirt on. He scrambled to correct this mistake and by the time he'd finished getting dressed, notifying Atem he could come back out of the Puzzle, and accessorizing, almost half an hour of the time Atem had convinced him to not spend sleeping was gone.

He stared blankly in the mirror for a few moments, trying to remember what was next.

_ ‘Breakfast, partner _ ,’ Atem reminded him. 

Yuugi nodded. “Right, of course.” He meandered his way down to the kitchen where his mother was finishing making breakfast. 

“Wasn't expecting you up for another 20 minutes at least,” she said mildly, raising an eyebrow at his entrance. “Have a seat if you're planning on eating.”

Yuugi obliged with a nod, scooting into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and kicking his feet so his toes scuffed against the floor. 

“Going out with your friends today?” His mother asked, scooping the contents of the pan onto two plates.

“Hm? Yeah! I think we settled on the arcade, then we're gonna go out for lunch, and then over to Anzu's to study.” He had told her a few days prior of the group's plans to spend the day together but at that point the exact specifics of what they'd be spending the day doing had been yet to be determined.

“Anzu's huh?” Yuugi's mom set a plate down in front of him, not quite trying to conceal the knowing smile crossing her face. “As long as you get your homework done.”

Yuugi tried not to groan out loud as his mother sat down with that same look, her own breakfast, and a book of sudoku puzzles, opened to the hardest difficulty puzzles at the back of the book. As it was, his internal emotional response earned him a chuckle from Atem that could almost be described as smug.

“Yeah well. Anything we don't get done this afternoon I have most of tomorrow to finish, anyway.” Yuugi tried to keep hold of the conversation, one that he'd rather do just about anything else but have. Trying to talk about his crush on Anzu was bad enough with his friends, between Atem's cheesy encouragement and Jounouchi and Honda's less than stellar “pro tips,” but he was liable to die of embarrassment of he had to spend too much time on the subject with his mom. 

“She's smart you know, that Anzu.” Yuugi's mom glanced up from her puzzle book with a sly smile peeking through her attempts at a veneer of neutrality. Yuugi couldn't help but wonder if her lack of subtlety was intentional.

Yuugi swallowed a mouthful of food too early in his rush to respond and derail this topic before it got too far. “Yes that's why we're going to her place after lunch, she's the best at school out of all of us and we're hoping that part of it is that her house seems to have the least distractions.” He regretted his word choice the second he saw his mother's face and hoped burying himself in his breakfast would save him.

“The least distractions, I see.” Yuugi didn't like his mother's emphasis on the word “least”.

“Well yeah because with the game shop here it's really easy for us to get derailed, Honda's family is nice and all but they like to get really involved, and then Jou's dad isn't. The easiest person in the world to study around.” Yuugi put the last bit as delicately as he could and hoped the explanation would suffice.

The unconvinced tone of his mother's “Mm hmmm,” told him it did not, but at least her eyes stayed on the page in front of her this time. She penciled in another number. 

Yuugi scooped the rest of his food into his mouth as quickly as he could, hoping to escape the room before his mother could make more commentary on the status of his friendship with Anzu, sticking the dishes in the sink and practically bolting from the room when he finished with a “LatermomI'llbebackbydark” and not much else. Yuugi silently thanked every god and guardian spirit he could think of, Egyptian and otherwise, that his grandpa was doing inventory in the shop this morning thereby allowing him to avoid giving someone else free access to the “bother me about my crush on Anzu” sign that seemed to be tattooed on his forehead this morning. He just hoped the others wouldn't bring it up but as long as Anzu herself was with them the whole time, Jounouchi and Honda would probably keep their mouths shut.

Yuugi had vacated the premises so quickly he forgot to take into account the fact that his friends wouldn't be there for several more minutes. “We got breakfast I hope you're happy,” he mumbled.

Mild contentment swirled with confusion came as a reply, as spectral Atem appeared beside him again. “ _ I'll stop if you really don't want to talk about it but I don't understand why people bringing up Anzu like that bothers you so. _ ”

“It's just. It's kind of embarrassing is all! Of course I  _ like _ her but having everyone speculate about it and make prying remarks and offer advice I didn't ask for isn't! Great! I don't like it! And I mean what with you in the mix the situation isn't even all that simple, either, and-”

“ _ If that's what you're worried about, partner, you shouldn't be. Anzu likes you for who you are, and you'll be able to have a somewhat normal life again soon. Honestly you should think about dating and things of that nature. _ ”

“It's not just that though,” Yuugi protested weakly, trying to put into words the gnawing discomfort that became apparent in his gut every time his mind ended up there, on the fact that Atem was leaving soon. He didn’t want to focus on having a ‘normal life.’ Part of it was definitely that he had spent so much of his life with the Puzzle, either working to solve it or with it hanging around his neck and Atem's increasingly familiar presence in his mind. He was used to it, it was a constant at this point and it was not a constant he was thrilled at the prospect of giving up, even with the accompanying threat of murder games. Especially not since it would be taking one of his closest friends with it. But even so it felt more complicated than that.

He shut down the train of thought, just as Atem's expression clouded with concern at the growing uncertainty in Yuugi's mind, just as their friends appeared around the corner and hurried towards Yuugi. 

“Heyy, Yuugi! Ready to go kick some tail at the arcade?” Jounouchi charged towards him, followed pretty closely by Honda, and wrapped an arm around Yuugi's neck, pulling him close and ruffling his hair playfully. “High scores here we come!”

Yuugi smiled and tugged at Jounouchi's arm to be released from the hold. “Yep! Ready to go whenever you are!” He pushed the troubled thoughts from his mind, felt Atem try to let go of his concern in a similar way. Those were worries for later. Not right now.

The four of them headed to the arcade, Bakura absent, having made some excuse about planning a tabletop campaign that Yuugi privately suspected to be a ruse to give him time to interrogate the Ring Spirit some more. They stopped outside for just a moment before heading in, but while Jounouchi and Honda barreled in amongst the maze of flashing consoles and machines, Yuugi was stopped by the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, are you alright Yuugi?” Anzu's look of soft concern made his breath catch in his throat.

“Yeah I'm fine,” he answered, automatic and too chipper. She didn't seem to buy it.

“You just look distracted. Worried.” She frowned slightly and Yuugi swore to himself. “You'd tell us if something was wrong, right?”

Yuugi nodded. He wasn't  _ fine _ per se but there wasn't really anything specific  _ wrong _ , either. Nothing anyone could do anything about, anyway. “Yeah it's nothing really. Just the upcoming Egypt trip feeling like a hell of a deadline is all.”

Anzu nodded, the partial truth seeming to satisfy her. “Yeah, and we all know how you are with deadlines.” She smiled encouragingly. “It'll be fine, and we'll all be there with you, you know; supporting you all the way.” 

“You guys don't have to come with me you know.” Yuugi looked down, kicked at the ground a little.

“We want to.” Anzu squeezed his shoulder lightly and he looked up at her face, so full of genuine care and kindness. His heart squeezed. “Come on, for now let's go in there and play some games.”

“Right!” Yuugi nodded and smiled, feeling slightly better. The pair entered the arcade and wound their way through between the games. 

They finally found Jounouchi and Honda shoulder to shoulder at a first person co-op shooter, plastic toy pistols trained on the screen and searching for pixelated enemies. Anzu and Yuugi watched them play until they got sniped at one of the higher levels, then watched them devolve into bickering at whose fault it was.

“I told ya to watch the tower!”

“I thought you said  _ you _ were watching the tower!”

“Why would  _ I _ be watching it, it was on  _ your _ side of the screen!”

Yuugi exchanged a glance with Anzu and they both laughed, Yuugi expressing both his own amusement and Atem's. 

“Hey, what's so funny?” Jounouchi rounded on them.

“You two,” Yuugi giggled. 

“Come on, let's go find something that won't have you fighting like an old married couple,” Anzu added. 

“Right right.” The pair grumbled good- naturedly and the whole group departed the shooting game to wander the arcade, searching for other amusements. 

After a couple of stops, Yuugi's footsteps trailed in front of a large game setup that sparked a pang of familiarity. 

Atem elaborated on the feeling.  _ ‘It's that dance game Anzu played when you set her and I up on that date-’ _

“That wasn't a date,” Yuugi mumbled aloud. 

This wasn't entirely true but Atem dropped it.  _ ‘Ok then, that not-date you set us up on. She's really good.’ _

“I'm sure, - Hey Anzu!” Yuugi called ahead and the group turned to look at him. He pointed at the dance stage, currently completely vacant. “You should play!”

“I- yeah sure why not!” Anzu beamed at being asked to show off. She turned to Jounouchi and Honda. “You guys weren't here when I played against Johnny Steps, and I guess you weren't really there either, huh Yuugi.”

Yuugi fought to keep color out of his face. “Yeah, honestly that's kind of why I said something, I wanted to watch firsthand.” While he still remembered the things Atem saw and did while in control of their body, the memories were still a bit hazier than his own, especially so with the big mental step back he'd been taking the day of that ‘ _ not-date’ _ to avoid interfering. Though frankly, even if he had remembered it perfectly he still would've made the suggestion.

“Well you'll get your wish. Hold please.” Anzu held out her jacket and purse, indicating Yuugi should take them from her, a request he was more than happy to oblige. She brushed some hair out of her face and stepped onto the stage. 

She was a wonder. Her movements seemed effortless, even as it was clear they were perfectly controlled. She was precise, elegant, graceful, and clearly having the time of her life.

Yuugi could've watched for hours.

“Holy  _ shit _ she's good,” Jounouchi mumbled beside Yuugi.

“Isn't she?” Yuugi breathed, unable to keep the adoration from his voice. How could he be such close friends with such an amazing person? How could such a person exist to begin with? She was so talented, so  _ skilled _ . Yuugi found himself completely caught up in watching her, to the point that when the song ended and she stepped down from the stage, it was as though the rest of the arcade rushed in around him, yanking him back to reality. 

“Damn, Anzu, I expected you to be good but that was amazing!” Jounouchi almost shouted when Anzu got to them through the small crowd that had gathered to watch her performance.

“That was… incredible,” agreed a still awestruck Yuugi, allowing her to retrieve her stuff from his vaguely numb arms.

“Thanks guys!” She responded, draping her jacket over her purse and attempting to release her bangs from where sweat had stuck them to her forehead. She took a big breath, trying to bring it back to normal. “So, what's next?” 

After only a few feet of walking, Yuugi abruptly switched control of the body to Atem, much to the latter's bewilderment.

“Yuugi!” Atem's outburst attracted the attention of the others, who turned to face him. “Oh, hi, uhh, it's me.”

“Atem, nice of you to join us!” Honda laughed.

“Yes, um, about that - why, what the… ? Why?” 

Yuugi wanted some time to process Anzu's performance and also to just be slightly removed from the sounds and lights of the arcade, and conveyed as much to Atem in mostly impressions, accompanied by at most a couple of words.

“Oh! Understood.” Atem nodded and moved to catch them up with the group. 

_ ‘Besides you should take the opportunity to have some fun and spend some time with the gang,’ _ Yuugi thought at Atem softly. 

“Mm,” came the reply.

Still, Yuugi's “other self” allowed himself to be put at the forefront while the group found more games to play, letting Yuugi gather his thoughts and recover a bit.

Yuugi zoned out for a bit and when he started paying real attention again, Honda was showing the group his “mad pinball skills,” which were more amusing than they were particularly impressive. Even Atem started laughing at one spectacularly hyped up miss, and Honda's indignant reaction. Yuugi felt himself filled with a warm, peaceful feeling. It was important to him that Atem knew how much their friends cared about him, and that he had some fun and enjoyed himself before - 

Yuugi's heart sank back down, lower and more troubled than he'd been all day. Atem paused, concerned. Yuugi noticed.

_ ‘I'm fine, don't worry about it,’  _ he insisted. 

_ ‘Are you sure?’ _ Atem kept the query internal, but the worry in his words was tangible.  _ 'You-’ _

_ ‘I just thought of something sad, it's nothing.’ _ Yuugi tried to keep his attitude light.  _ ‘Hey look there's that puzzle game we've been wanting to try!’ _

Atem gave the impression that this conversation was not over, but allowed himself to be redirected towards the game.

The group followed Atem over to the game and watched him start it up. He stared blankly at the opening screen for a moment; neither he nor Yuugi had played the game before. Thankfully, the arcade console had a tutorial level. After Atem absorbed the basic rundown of the controls and objective of the game, he was ready to start the proper level one, and he was nearly flawless.

Yuugi began to feel the slight thrill of adrenaline through their shared veins as Atem really got into the game, the time sensitivity of the moves making it just exciting enough to be enjoyable. The pressure never seemed to get to Atem, though, as he slid the pieces into place on the screen with ease, his hands practiced and steady on the buttons and joystick. Yuugi couldn't help but feel that watching the game through Atem's eyes was an absolute delight. It was absorbing to watch. How could he be so lucky, Yuugi thought, to be so absolutely close to someone so talented and clever? How amazing it was that he could have not one but  _ two _ such fantastic and incredible people in his life.

The pieces in Yuugi's mind fell together the same way the ones on the screen did and he very abruptly cut off his mental connection to Atem. His other self fumbled several easy matches, reeling from the sudden loss, but Yuugi only vaguely registered it, too caught up in his own realization to give Atem more than a cursory brush of reassurance that he was still there.

_ Oh gods. I'm in love, with Atem. _

It made sense, suddenly, the deep pit in his stomach every time he thought about the impending Egypt trip. So many moments throughout the time since he'd assembled the Puzzle, his complete willingness to put himself completely at risk for Atem's sake, the thrilled delight at seeing Atem's true face for the first time, at leaning his name, all at once these flashes of memory dogpiled his consciousness with a new layer of context, a sudden why pinned to each event, now at the forefront of his mind.

_ In love. _

_ With  _ ** _Atem_ ** _ . _

Of course, he'd risk his life for any of his friends, and would suffer at the loss of any of them. And nothing had changed of his feelings for Anzu, either, that crush was still going strong, obviously. If anything the similarities between how Yuugi felt for Anzu, and how Yuugi felt for Atem, were why he had this realization. Nothing had really changed in his feelings for Atem either, in this jolt of epiphany, except for his awareness of them. The assumption that he liked girls and only girls was unceremoniously tossed aside, as were any misgivings about having a crush on not only a dude but a dude who happened to be stuck sharing his body, because there were undeniable facts to be had and those facts were that he not only liked boys, but he liked that specific boy, in particular.

Yuugi could not let Atem know any of this.

Not only was there the whole issue of the potential awkwardness this might create between them, but even on the decent chance Atem was accepting of it, even on the million to one chance he  _ reciprocated _ it, there was another undeniable fact to be had and that was that Atem was leaving come this next break from school. 

Atem didn't have his own body, and didn't deserve to be imprisoned in Yuugi's and the Puzzle; he deserved to move on, to finally have some autonomy, and peace. He had people he cared about, who cared about him, to go on to. Yuugi owed it to him to let him have that, with no regrets or misgivings about who or what he was leaving behind. Selfishly telling him about this crush would only serve to make him worry and feel guilty for leaving. There was nothing to be done about it.

When Yuugi started engaging with sensory input again, Atem was finished with the game, now waving off concerned looks from their friends and excusing himself to take a breather in the bathroom.

He made it to the bathroom, locked the door behind them, and practically staggered to the sink, looking his reflection in the eye, forcing Yuugi to do the same. The closest they could get to eye contact in their, Yuugi's, physical body.

_ ‘Yuugi are you alright? If something is wrong, I want you to answer me. Please. You cut off our connection so harshly back there I thought something had  _ ** _happened_ ** _ to you for a moment, i thought you'd been  _ ** _taken_ ** _ or -’ …  _ Atem's statement cut off, the wave of fear telling Yuugi all he needed to know about what kind of horrors Atem's imagination had run to. ‘ _ What's going on?’ _

Yuugi closed their eyes. Eye contact was hard on a good day, even with Atem, and today hadn't been a particularly good day. 

_ ‘I've just - I've been really nervous about the- the Egypt trip. I thought that when we defeated Zorc, it'd be over, that everything would be okay after that. I - I don't want to lose you, but I don't want to hold you back either. You deserve more than you can have here, you deserve to have peace with your family, your friends. I don't want to fail you, and I've been dwelling on it a lot lately. Too much, probably. That's all. I didn't mean to worry you, quite the opposite in fact, I'm sorry.’ _

Yuugi did his best to bury the melancholy half truth nature of his words under the genuine pains and fears they were meant to communicate. It was all true, there was simply another dimension to it that he himself had only just come to know.

Yuugi felt a wave of warm reassurance, mingled with traces of relief and concern, coming from Atem. ‘ _ You could never fail me, Yuugi. I have faith in you, and you've already done so much for me, more than I could ever repay. No matter what, you're always my partner. You need not worry over that.’ _

They slipped into their soul rooms, both in Yuugi's this time, kneeling on the floor in front of each other in a small area cleared of toys and games.

“You're stronger than you realise, you know,” Atem said after a beat. “You've become so, incredibly strong in the time that I've known you. You have much to be proud of.” He tentatively placed a hand on Yuugi's shoulder and then, when that didn't go horribly wrong, pulled him into a hug.

Yuugi wrapped his arms around Atem, greedily pulling him closer, mashing his cheek into Atem's shoulder as though he could hide from the truth and the world there. “Sometimes, though, even after everything, I still feel like the same scared little kid who first started working on the Puzzle.” He felt the hot wash of tears starting to form behind his eyelids. His hands started to tremble,  _ why did he feel so damn shaky _ , and suddenly he was full on crying into Atem's shoulder, shuddering, silent sobs that made his breath hitch and his ribs ache. 

He was crying because this wasn't real and wouldn't ever be. Because the closest he'd ever gotten to really, actually touching Atem was in the memory game, when he held Atem in his lap and desperately tried to save him, to keep him from slipping away through sheer force of will. He cried because it wasn't  _ fair _ , he'd wished for  _ friends _ and Atem was one of those, and what was the point of any of this if he had to give up that wish? And Atem was, when he'd ruled, when he'd  _ died _ , about the same age as Yuugi, and on some level Yuugi realised that was so, so young, that despite all his maturity and bravado Atem was still far too young to have to go on, too young for his life to be over, and that finality hurt, so much. Yuugi wanted to help him, to protect him, to give him something more of this world, but helping him move on was the best he could offer and he wasn't even completely confident in his ability to do that and it was all just such bullshit! It wasn't fair!

Atem shifted so that the pair were nearly sitting side by side, still gently holding Yuugi, running a hand over his back. “It's okay. You're far more than a frightened child, Yuugi. You're the bravest person I've ever known. You'll do fine, I promise. I have faith in you.”

On some level Yuugi knew he was right. He could survive without Atem, he would be okay. He could stand up for himself now. But he didn't  _ want _ to have to survive without Atem, to have to live every day for the rest of his life with the knowledge that his friend, this person he loved dearly, was gone forever. But he would have to.

Yuugi pulled away, out of the hug. He squeezed his eyes shut and came back out into the real world, taking over his body again, abandoning the ephemeral comfort of Atem's touch to face reality. He found himself leaned over the sink, fingers in a white knuckled grip around its edges. Tear tracks streaked his face and the Puzzle, dangling from its chain around his neck, was wet.

Yuugi yanked several paper towels out of the dispenser, first setting to work drying the Puzzle, hoping its magic would keep the moisture out of the seams between the pieces. Once that task was complete, he dampened another handful of towels with cold tap water and cleaned up his face, wiping away salt and eyeliner stains, cooling his face to make the redness go down. He fixed his eyeliner, appraised his reflection. He looked almost okay, and that was about as good as it was gonna get. He took a deep breath. Another.

Atem's spectral form hovered by his shoulder, steadying him. Yuugi unlocked the bathroom door and pushed past it, past the line of people waiting for the bathroom and giving him strange and annoyed looks, back towards where they'd left their friends, ready to announce that it seemed like lunchtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 6 Title: Hiding by Florence and the Machine  
(I stg not all of yuugi's chapters will be titled from this song i just really like it for him)
> 
> Puzzleshipping really starts heavier in this chapter but of course it doesn't come easy you're welcome


	7. (call my name and) Save Me From The Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bakura POV again!  
***FAIR WARNING***: This chapter contains a nightmare Bakura and TKB have. This dream sequence could be rather upsetting and contains a bit of violence/blood/horror, though it is not described in Terribly gruesome detail and between that and the fact that it's the only instance of such in the whole fic I did not feel it was necessary to tag the whole fic with a graphic violence warning. Proceed with discression. If you feel that you would rather play it safe and skip the dream, both ends of the nightmare sequence are capped with a line break and an ellipsis (...), and I'll put a TL;DR summary of the nightmare in the end notes. Outside of that, Bakura and TKB talk a fair bit about death and oblivion in the hypothetical in this chapter, so like. Be warned. Stay safe kids <3

Bakura flopped on his bed, exhausted. He hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights, between staying up to pore over the new Monster World supplementary material book he'd just gotten, and troubling, vague dreams that made the sleep he did get fitful, and less restful than it should've been.

_ ‘You're not staying up to look at that book again tonight,’ _ the Ring Spirit scolded.  _ ‘You need to take more care of yourself.’ _

“Who are you my mother?” Bakura sniped back. “Last I checked your behavior wasn't the best example of taking care of this body's physical health.”

_ 'Yes I know, which is why I've seen more than enough of you in the hospital. No more of that thanks, not while I have a say.’ _

“Who said you had a say?” Bakura mumbled, the words lacking any bite and motivated purely by the desire to remain argumentative. He was tired, and that meant he was also grumpy and slightly petty.

_ 'Sleep, idiot.’ _

He didn't have an argument this time, instead already beginning to comply with the demand, his exhaustion stronger than his will to snark. 

…

Everything was dark, layers of shadow on void on inky abyss all around, blurry incoherent shapes occasionally appearing in the mists for a snatch of a moment before disappearing again. Bakura tried to move but found that he couldn’t; glowing, purple grey threads wrapped around his limbs and body, disappearing off into the mists where they were apparently tethered to something else, preventing his movement. The threads tugged, lifting an arm, then yanked him to his feet abruptly. He was puppeteered by the threads, walked into the mist.

“Stop.” He pulled back against the force, whoever was controlling him, but the threads cut into his skin, hot, electric slices of pain that cut away at his will to resist. “Leave me alone.”

** _What’s your name?_ ** The rumbling, harsh voice was directly in his head.

“Ryou Bakura.”

** _WRONG! _ ** The shout grated at the inside of his skull, making his head hurt.  ** _What is your name, whelp?_ **

“Ryou Bakura!”

** _WRONG!_ ** The threads pulled him forward, somehow he knew it was towards the source of the voice, dragging him bodily as much as controlling his legs to walk.  ** _What is your name!?_ **

“My name is Ryou Bakura, I have no other name!” Bakura shouted back, eyes squeezed shut against the pain, tugging against the threads pulling him forwards.

** _WRONG!_ ** It was somehow louder this time, Bakura’s brain felt like mush under the force of the voice now. Enormous red eyes glowed, squinting at him from the darkness.  ** _YOU HAVE NO NAME AT ALL. YOU HAVE NOTHING, NOTHING TO BE REMEMBERED BY. YOU BELONG TO THE SHADOWS NOW, YOU ARE MINE._ **

“The fuck he is!” Bakura felt the new voice tear itself from his own throat and suddenly he was several feet further back from where he had been, free from the tangle of threads and physically unharmed. 

Another form stood in his place, arms outstretched to block the monster's view of him. Blood dripped down from the places where the threads cut into the newcomer's skin, his limbs trembling with the effort of staying in place. A shock of unkempt white hair tossed around as the newcomer struggled, and Bakura realised it was the Ring spirit who had taken his place to save him.

The Ring Spirit shouted his defiance, his voice hoarse and feral. “I agreed to this not him! You are nothing! Gone! And if you're dragging anyone with you, it's me! I have no name! He is Ryou Bakura and you will leave him alone! He does not belong to you!”

A face, gruesome and monstrous, appeared from the shadows around the red eyes.  ** _That which is unremembered belongs to me._ ** The jagged maw opened, moving in as though to swallow the Spirit whole, and Bakura realised with a jolt the identity of this monster.

Zorc.

The teeth closed around the Spirit without a sound, and Bakura woke up.

…

Bakura bolted upright in his bed, shivering.

_ ‘It was just a dream, it was just a dream, we're safe it was a dream he's gone, he can't hurt you anymore it was a dream,’ _ the Spirit murmured, at Bakura's bedside and facing him. He seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as Bakura.

Bakura laid down again, still exhausted but not wanting to sleep again after that. He curled up, cocooning himself in his blankets. “It was just a dream but it still sucked. This is why I hate sleeping.”  


The Ring Spirit looked at him, concerned.  _ ‘You need sleep.’ _

“You think I don't know that?” Bakura snapped. “Of course I need sleep, but half the time when I get it, it bites me in the ass, because I end up with dreams like that, and I basically might as well have not even bo-,” he yawned. “Bothered. It's stupid. I can't even decide if it's better or worse now that I understand what the dreams are about, rather than before, when I first got the Ring and was completely clueless.” He reached an arm around to the side of his bed, groping around for the Monster World rulebook again.  


The Spirit frowned.  _ ‘You don't deserve this.’ _

Bakura stopped reaching and turned. “Hmpf. You don't either, if that's what we're talking about. Doesn't stop it from happening though.” Bakura rolled over, trying to find a comfortable position from which to glare at the Spirit. Of course, since the discomfort was psychological rather than physical, that was going to be a difficult task.

_ ‘If it helps, he can't have you. You have people, friends, a name. Even if he somehow still exists somewhere other than the shadows of our imaginations, he can't touch you.’ _

“How do you figure that one?”

_ ‘If he still exists somewhere, the only way he could get to people anymore is when they die. He's too weak to prey on the living anymore. And you have people to remember you, and a name to be put on a grave, you'll still be safe when you die, too.’ _

“Huh." Bakura thought for a moment. "You don't. You don't have a name. What's your plan for avoiding Zorc?”

_ ‘Don't have one. Either I'll be stuck here for the rest of ever or I'll be tossed into the abyss worth the rest of my people when the pharaoh moves on, forgotten. Doesn't matter.’ _

Bakura jolted up and propped himself up on an arm. “What do you mean ‘doesn't matter’? If you-”

_ ‘It doesn't. Matter. There were people worth saving who died in Kul Elna, but I gave up the right to be one of them a long time ago. I'm hardly a person anymore. What happens to me doesn't matter.’ _

“You barely  _ got _ to be a person! You had your life ripped out from under you, you were a child! What were you supposed to do!?”

_ ‘Not destroy everything in my path.’ _

“It's not your fault.”

_ ‘I made my choices.’ _

“You were a dying child you had no choices!”

The Ring Spirit scoffed, frowning.  _ ‘It's not like I'd have any kind of nice happy afterlife waiting for me, anyone who could've wanted to see me is long forgotten. Nothingness is the best I could hope for. Stop trying to save me, or whatever it is you're doing. I can't be saved.’ _

“Bullshit.” Bakura grumbled back, but rolled over to turn his back on the specter. “You still need a name, referring to you in my head in general terms or as ‘the Ring Spirit’ is getting to be a pain. I'm sick of doing mental gymnastics every time I think about you.”

_ ‘You could always call me ‘that bastard’.’ _

“Believe me I've tried it. It's not good enough.”

_ ‘Then just Bastard,’ _ the Spirit laughed ironically.

“You're not a cat! You're getting a proper human name whether you like it or not.” Bakura got the sense the Spirit was shrugging but he ignored it as he wracked his brain for name ideas. After several minutes he had an idea. “I'll call you Ayumu, I think.”

_ ‘Hmpf. Call me what you like.’ _ The Spirit's, Ayumu’s, voice was gruff and noncommittal, but some sense in the back of Bakura's mind got a feeling almost like warmth, or appreciation. Bakura smiled, and found himself drifting off to sleep again. For the first time in a while, he slept through the rest of the night dreamlessly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 7 Title: Bring Me To Life (Synthesis) by Evanescance  
((this is the good version without the memey male vocals pasted in awkwardly. 13/10 do recommend go listen if you haven't already))
> 
> TL;DR of the nightmare: Bakura encounters and is entrapped by shadowy-vague monstrous Zorc. After some back and forth yelling, Zorc tells Bakura he has no name and claims Bakura belongs to him. At this point TKB takes Bakura's place in Zorc's hold, yelling that he is the nameless one and that Zorc has no hold on Bakura, before getting swallowed whole by Zorc (and if I see ANY vore jokes on this chapter i swear to gods...). Complete with weird marionette symbolism and as much allusion to the canon 'shadow realm' as I could make without saying the words bc 4kids basically turned that phrase into a joke. k there u go u can continue reading the chapter
> 
> ...  
Also, cool, finally settled on a name for TKB. I picked a Japanese name both because that's what Bakura would be more familiar with and because he's trying very hard to establish an existence for TKB/Ayumu in the 'here' and 'now' of the fic, i.e. modern Japan, because TKB's history with ancient Egypt isn't. the best foundation on which to settle any attempts at establishing TKB/Ayumu as being his own individual and a person worth saving.  
also both in and out of fic canon in modern IRL it's pretty hard to find egyptian names, especially ancient egyptian based ones, that fit and/or weren't based in names of royalty/gods which. TKB is very much in the camp of Fuck The Gods in canon and fic so honestly Bakura (and I) didn't figure those kinds of names would go over terribly well. With more mental and internet resources, or were it any Egyptian character BUT TKB, I might've chosen much differently but. Here we are.


	8. Too Many Memories (getting in the way of me)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atem POV!  
More feels time :3

_ ‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ _

“Do you trust me?” Yuugi asked.

_ ‘Absolutely _ .’ Atem trusted his partner implicitly, but he still had his doubts about… this.

“Well I trust Bakura, well, his intentions at least, and Bakura trusts what's left of the Ring Spirit, or at least his ability to control it- him, rather, now, and I really think this would help Bakura find some closure. And, well, we'll both be there and all sharp, pointy objects will have already been secured so I don't think there's any serious danger.”

Something uneasy still stirred in Atem, at the idea of trying to parlay with the self proclaimed Thief King, despite Yuugi's sound reasoning. The possibility stood out in his mind that it was just anxiety and lingering guilt at not having tried this before the conflict was over. With this in mind, he accepted Yuugi and Bakura's attempt at forming a truce between them.

They made it to Bakura's apartment a bout an hour before dinnertime; they'd planned to eat at Bakura's apartment and had made the appropriate arrangements.

The weather was awful.

“Did you walk in this?” Bakura asked as he greeted them at the door. “You're soaked!”

“Haha, yeah,” Yuugi replied, sheepish. The downpour had come out of seemingly nowhere, and they'd ignored Yuugi's mother's suggestion of checking the weather before they left. “It's fine, I'll dry off quick enough.” The damp leather was uncomfortable and Atem could feel Yuugi suppressing his body's attempts to shiver. Of course if Atem hadn't been so anxious to get this over with maybe they'd have at least thought to bring a better jacket.

As it was they hung up the soaked one they were wearing in the front hall, dropping Yuugi's bookbag beside it, and followed Bakura to his living room, where blessedly hot tea was waiting for them. Bakura was, Atem noted, already wearing the Ring.

Yuugi sat down with their tea and the throw blanket Bakura offered, and after a couple of sips he quickly relinquished control to Atem. 

Atem was glad he had the presence of mind to put down the tea cup before allowing the shivers Yuugi had been suppressing to overtake him. He shook violently for several moments, probably ejecting a significant amount of water from his hair across the room. “Sorry.”

Bakura nodded and smiled, and wordlessly turned the heat up. On his way back to his seat he closed and locked the door to the kitchen.

Atem stared at his tea in silence, having a hard time not asking Yuugi to let him retreat back into the Puzzle to avoid the awkwardness hanging in the air like a tangible fog.

“This is stupid.” Atem's head jerked up to look at Bakura. The voice reached lower registers than Atem had remembered Bakura's voice was capable of, and his almost sleepy, calm expression was replaced with a deep set scowl and sharp, narrowed eyes. He glanced at Atem. “Oh, done studying the bottom of your cup now,  _ pharaoh _ ? Ready to talk?” The sneer in his voice was painfully obvious 

“I'm not. I'm not the pharaoh anymore. I'm just… Atem.” Atem looked down again, this time fixing his eyes on the table between them.

“Whatever.”

Atem took a deep breath. “Bakura I'm-”

“That's not my name. That's the landlord's name, stop calling me by it,” Not-Bakura growled. “Stop putting his name on me. On what I did. If you want something to call me, he calls me Ayumu.”

“Is that your name?”

Ayumu shrugged. “If you like. Not like I remember the one my mother gave me or anything anyway.” 

Atem winced.

Another long awkward pause passed. Atem had to work himself up back towards speaking. Strange how threats and monologues had been so easy when they were enemies but now, when Ayumu held no danger, even the simplest words caught in Atem's throat. 

Another deep breath. “I - I'm…”

“Spit it out.”

“I'm sorry. What happened was terrible and I should've done something about it. I should have tried to help you or-”

“Gods you're pathetic,” Ayumu cut him off. “You're so, fucking, pathetic. All this shit right under your nose and you just let it slide and then you come here a handful of millenia later and say you should've done ‘something’. No shit! It's like if a cop just stood back and watched someone get murdered and then later said he ‘should've done something.’ Really? How'd you get to that conclusion!?”

Atem felt himself slip back as Yuugi forcibly took over their body again. “Stop it! It's not like Atem is the one who did those terrible things! It's not like he's the one who made the Items or like he would've allowed it to happen given the choice! He didn't know!”

_ ‘It was my job to know,’ _ Atem interjected, trying to get Yuugi to back down and give him control again.  _ ‘He isn't wrong.’ _

“Oh the great defender is out to play now. Going to keep fighting all his battles for him, little vessel?” Ayumu jeered.

“That's enough!” Atem got control again. “Aim as much derision as you want towards me, but Yuugi did nothing wrong. Leave him out of it. You're right, my apology is weak. It's too little too late. You, your people, did not deserve what Akhenadin, and, and my father Akhenamkanon, and their men - you didn't deserve what they put you through. It never should have happened. You didn't deserve Zorc.”

“Hmph. For all I know you're just trying to clear your conscience so you can have a nice, happy little afterlife.”

Atem recoiled. “While I can truthfully tell you that's not the case I can't blame you for the suspicion.” He was staring at his tea again, trying to swallow back the nameless lump in his throat that wouldn't go away.

A moment passed, and Atem could feel Ayumu’s eyes on him, scrutinizing him. “No, you're right, that wouldn't be it, you don't even want to move on in the first place, do you?” Atem's eyes snapped up, locked with Ayumu’s, and Ayumu grinned like a cat that caught a mouse. “No, true to character you want what you think you can't have and you're too much of a pathetic coward to try to get it.”

“Regardless of what I want, my moving on is inevitable. It can't be stopped. And it's what's best for Yuugi. It's not like I can live, exist, like this forever.” Atem gestured to himself, to Yuugi's body that he was simply borrowing, living on like a parasite. A wash of confusion and concern, not his own, flowed through his mind, and he got the feeling that there had been a misunderstanding somewhere that he and Yuugi would have to discuss after this. 

“Mm, right. ‘Inevitable’, ‘Fate’, ‘ Destiny’, you people sure do like to throw around fancy words like that when there's something bad happening but you don't know how to stop it. You just let yourself get tossed around by this so called 'fate,’ let yourself be a pawn and a figurehead for the gods to throw at whatever problem they have, and let yourself get disposed of the second you've served your purpose. Pathetic. You didn't do a single thing for yourself your whole life in Egypt, and now you have one thing, one thing you want, and you can't even pull yourself together enough to even try to have that either. And the worst part is, you don't even realise how pathetic you are! You think I'm the one to be pitied! I may have spent most of my own life a slave but at least Zorc didn't give a shit what I did in my off time. I'm freer now than you've ever been, even as a child, and I'm a spirit attached to a cursed necklace.” Ayumu seemed genuinely indignant… on Atem's behalf? But in a terribly insulting manner nonetheless.

“So am I, don't forget. My moving on has nothing to do with the gods. I simply can't keep living on Yuugi forever.”

“Right, like the gods couldn't give you your own body back if they wanted,” Ayumu snapped. “All powerful this, almighty that, you'd think they could at least give their  _ champion _ something like a life in exchange for covering their fucking assess while darkness threatened to swallow up their precious world. If the gods gave half a shit about you, they'd make it easy for you to live  _ with _ Yuugi. They'd finally reward the loyalty of their kicked-puppy of a prince, always following their decrees of ‘destiny’ even to your own death. But no they've gotta be assholes about that too, and now they're even trying to force you to abandon the one and probably only person you've gotten your head out of your ass long enough to properly fall in love with.”

Though he'd stood at the wrong end of several weapons before while being threatened by various hostile parties, Atem had never had the experience of actually being shot by a modern gun. However, he suddenly found himself with the strong impression that he now had a solid approximation of what taking a bullet to the abdomen would feel like. 

“I'm sorry, what?” Was all Atem could manage as his throat and mouth suddenly lost all moisture.

“Like the fact that you're in love with him isn't written all over your face and voice every time you talk about him. Like it hasn't been for months now. Who do you think you're fooling?”

_ Myself, apparently _ , Atem thought dryly, still trying to process what had just been said. He felt his face get hot and his hands start to shake slightly, his mouth might have been hanging open but he couldn't be sure, everything felt disconnected because what. Just happened? 

Atem tried to stammer out some sort of denial or assurance that this was a misunderstanding, but the words just wouldn't come out because the more he tried to reason his way out of it the more he realised that Ayumu wasn't  _ wrong _ . With that he also realised that Yuugi had been sitting in the background, listening to this conversation and witnessing every ounce of Atem's failure to regain his composure, and with that came the complete and utter inability to form any thought other than the impression of an expletive.

If Yuugi had opinions on this turn of events, though, he was keeping them to himself.

He had to have had opinions.

Ayumu watched him struggle for several moments, like a fish suddenly expected to swim in oil, an expression of understanding and, somehow, amusement blooming across his features. “You didn't even know it yourself, did you? So obsessed with following orders to the last, you never even thought to wonder what you actually wanted! You really are stupid!”

Suddenly Bakura was back in control, sounding like a friendly librarian trying to be strict with a rowdy student. “That's _enough_, Ayumu.” Why  _ this, _ of all the things that had been said, was what made him put his own other self in time-out was beyond Atem.

“I'm sorry can you just. Give me- us, a moment. Just, need a moment.” Atem excused them to the bathroom, where he locked the door and promptly forced Yuugi into control of their body -  _ his _ body - before they collapsed. It took all of Atem's willpower simply not to retreat all the way into the Puzzle, into his soul room, and hide there and not come out again.

Yuugi leaned heavily on the door before regaining his balance. “Are you okay?” He asked softly, in that endearing, genuine voice of his. No prying questions, no accusations or disgust, just an offer of concern. Always worried about his friends’ well-being first.

If Atem was in love with him, he had a hard time understanding how anyone in the world could not be. 

After the long pause, the concern in Yuugi's voice was higher, more pronounced. “Atem, are you okay?”

_ ‘I don't- know,’ _ Atem choked out. He perched his spectral self on the edge of the tub, curling into himself.  _ ‘Gods, he's right. I'm so stupid.’ _

“You're not. Stupid, I mean.”

A knock came at the door. “You two all right in there?” It was still Bakura's voice.

“I think so just give us a minute,” Yuugi replied.

“Ok. Come out whenever you're ready, I'll go get started on dinner in the meantime.”

“Ok!” Yuugi turned back to Atem. “What do you need? What would be good for you right now?”

_ 'I- I need to think? I need time.’ _

Yuugi nodded. “Take all the time you need, let me know when you're ready to talk again.”

Atem nodded and finally allowed himself to retreat into the Puzzle, to curl up in a corner of his soul room and languish in the feeling of a wall against his back. He'd be okay, he just needed to process. It wasn't like this would change anything, really. It wasn't like he could allow it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 8 Title: Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea by Fall Out Boy  
(i listened to the Mania album a Lot while writing this fic Don't Judge Me)
> 
> Someone get Atem some therapy like holy fuck. I mean. Lets be real. They all need therapy, realistically. Bad. But holy shit this boy is not in tune with his own emotions at all godDAMN.


	9. Some Princes (don't become kings)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Some Communication between fools  
Yuugi POV

Yuugi didn't leave the bathroom immediately, instead inspecting his reflection. His cheeks still held a distinct flush but they weren't burning scarlet anymore. That'd have to be good enough. 

He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. 

That was certainly not the turn of events he'd expected when he and Bakura had arranged this meeting. He wondered how much of it was true. Saying something like that to throw them off was certainly something the old spirit of the Millennium Ring would've done, but Bakura said Ayumu wasn't like that anymore. Grouchy and standoffish sure, vindictive even, but not necessarily a liar. And then again, would Atem have reacted like that if it  _ wasn't _ at least a little true?

Yuugi didn't know. He didn't want to get his hopes up for nothing; even if it was true, what were they going to do about it? Cancel the trip to Egypt? Postpone it indefinitely? Regardless, he couldn't help but think, it was plausible. Yuugi himself hadn't figured out his own crush on Atem until recently, and Atem didn't have the best track record for prioritizing or paying attention to his own emotions. This was absolutely something that could've gone unnoticed. 

Yuugi sighed and left the bathroom, ambling towards the kitchen with some idea of helping Bakura. “When's your dad getting home?”

“Not until late probably. I'm cooking enough to put leftovers in the fridge for him but I doubt he'll join us at any point.” Bakura didn't look up from the shallots he was chopping. “Just got a new set of samples in at the museum that need sorting and labeling. He'll be at it all night if the other staff members let him.”

Yuugi laughed, leaning against the counter. “Sounds like Grandpa. Or you with your Monster World campaigns.”

Bakura smiled. “That's probably where I get it from.” He paused. “Hey are you guys okay?” He glanced up.

“Yeah, I think Atem just needs some time to think about some things.” Yuugi looked down at his hands, and lifted the Puzzle slightly. “He's been going through a lot since… that night in the museum. He had a lot thrown at him all at once, about his past and the past of the Items and what he inherited, and he's. He's been dealing with it as well as he can, I think, but it's like being reminded that he's a person, too, is a lot for him. He's used to just being, a symbol, almost. It's like he was never taught how to manage his own feelings or thoughts.”

There was a long, quiet pause, and then the sound of Bakura's knife on the cutting board started up again. “Yes I think that's kind of the point Ayumu was trying to make, in his roundabout way. It seems to me, from what context I've picked up anyway, that Atem has been holding himself to some sort of higher standard, but he always has to have some sort of external frame of reference. He thinks he's supposed to be objectively near-perfect, but he doesn't know how to do that, because people can't be objectively perfect. Ayumu says he's a fool for trying but I don't think he can really help it.”

“That makes sense. He grew up with a lot of pressure on him, high expectations from being the prince, and I think that really hurt his ability to care about his own needs and wants.” Yuugi pulled the Puzzle closer to himself. “It hurts to watch sometimes. He just doesn't seem to know how to care about himself. Everyone else's standards are always more important to him than his own happiness or well-being.”

“Indeed.”

“And that's what Ayumu meant, about freedom, isn't it?”

“Yes.” There was another long pause. Bakura finished with the shallots and scraped them all off the cutting board into a bowl, then moved on to the next thing. “He wants to move on. Ayumu, I mean. He doesn't think there's anything left for him in this world, and that the answer to that lies in the next one, whether he ends up anywhere nice or whether he just… stops existing.” Bakura almost, almost kept the tremor from his voice. Yuugi looked up at him. “He's angry. The way he sees it, we've all been pawns, played around a game board by Zorc, and the gods. He wants to be mad at Atem, tries so hard to be, but deep down I can tell he can't manage it. Atem thinks he was a player but as far as Ayumu is concerned he was just another piece, played by the other side and placated by promises of importance and virtue instead of revenge and justice.”

“Mmm.” Yuugi's eyes dropped to the Puzzle in his hands again.

“And the gods, with the game over, simply toss all the pieces aside, to fall where they may. There's a sense of powerlessness there. He's. So angry, and so betrayed, and it hurts.” Bakura put the knife down and Yuugi realised his hands were shaking. “I want to help him.”

“They didn't deserve this.” Yuugi put a hand on Bakura's arm. “But we can help. I'm sure of it.”

“How? How do we help, how do you know?”

“I don't know,” Yuugi replied, filling his voice with every ounce of confidence he didn't actually feel. “I don't know how but I know it can be done. I feel it. There's still a game to be played. We're good at those.”

Bakura breathed. “Right. You'll think of something, you always do.”

“ _ We'll _ think of something,” Yuugi corrected, emphatically attempting to convey that the “we” included Bakura.  


Bakura looked up, surprised, but nodded, apparently understanding. “Right.”

Yuugi left the kitchen for a bit to call home and ask his mother for permission to stay the night at Bakura's. With the weather being what it was it was safer, he reasoned, and besides they already had their homework done and they'd already planned on him eating dinner there so it wasn't like he'd be imposing much. Negotiations were made and Yuugi agreed to work an extra shift stocking the shelves of the Kame Game over the weekend (“working, not playing”) in exchange for the late notice, but otherwise the sleepover was approved.

Yuugi helped Bakura with the last of the meal preparation, mostly by washing things and putting them away, and the pair sat down for dinner. They were most of the way through the meal before Yuugi felt Atem, gently brushing at the back of his mind, letting him know he was ready to talk again whenever Yuugi wanted to.

After dinner was finished and the dishes were washed, Yuugi found a nice corner to sit down and meditate in.

He let himself into Atem's soul room. Yuugi sucked in a breath. Atem sat against the wall, knees pulled up in front of him, looking down, dressed in the same outfit Yuugi wore. He glanced up at Yuugi as he walked in. Yuugi sat down next to him.

“Have you figured anything out?”

“Some things.”

“About what Ayumu said?”

“Mm.”

“Can we talk about it?”

Atem looked up, a wary, uncomfortable look in his eyes. “Do we have to?”

“Will we ever if I don't answer that with a yes?” Yuugi raised an eyebrow.

Atem heaved a sigh. “Unlikely.”

“Then, yes, we do have to talk about it. Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 9 Title: Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea by Fall Out Boy  
(yes, again)
> 
> the previous chapter, this chapter, and the next are all part of the same sequence of scenes leading up to the home stretch here  
thanks for sticking with it so far, we're almost done <3


	10. Finally We Agree (no place for promises here)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Atem POV for the last time

“If we must.” Atem looked back down, determined to keep his eyes fixed on the ground. “What is there to talk about, really?”

“You avoiding your feelings, for starters.”

“My feelings,” Atem started, and paused.  _ My feelings are messy, and strange, and confusing _ , he thought, but he didn't say that. “My feelings won't change what has to happen,” is what he said instead.

“Even if that were true that doesn't mean that they don't matter.” Yuugi's voice was so achingly gentle, and earnest, and gods it hurt so much to be aware of how much he loved hearing it, why the hell did Bakura, or Ayumu, rather, have to go and open his mouth and say those things, and absolutely shatter his resolve.

“What do you mean?”

“It means you're my friend and I care about you. I want to know what you're feeling, I want you to be happy, and feel safe, and I don't want to go into this based on incorrect assumptions and end up hurting you in the process.” The slight tremble in Yuugi's voice made Atem's heart hurt. “I thought, moving on, that that was what you wanted, I thought you needed that closure. I didn't want to let you go but I thought it was what you wanted.  _ Other me _ , I don't want you to leave me, especially not if it's something you yourself don't want.”

Atem's breath caught at the sound of the epithet. Yuugi had been trying very hard, since the conclusion of the memory world rpg, to call Atem by his own name. Why would that stop now? “What would you propose we do about it? We, you, can't live like this forever! You can't keep having me around just attached to you like this, leeching off your life and experiences. You don't deserve to have to share your life like that. There's only one Yuugi, and that's you! I'm not you!”

“Well. That's probably a good thing because it would be pretty conceited of me to fall in love with myself.”

Atem heard a strangled noise that he realised after the fact had come from his own mouth. Even though the space they were in technically wasn't physical and neither were they, Atem swore he could feel his heart beating hard enough to be heard anywhere in the room. He couldn't help himself, he looked up.

Yuugi's face was flushed and he wasn't quite looking at Atem anymore, instead taking furtive glances every few seconds as though trying to monitor Atem's reaction without being obvious about it. He was so goddamn  _ cute _ . Those who had seen both of them said that Atem and Yuugi looked alike, but he couldn’t entirely see it. Even when he looked in the mirror when he was in control of Yuugi’s body, he looked… different. It had to be the expressions, the open honesty and sincerity that always painted Yuugi’s features, that candor Atem himself found so difficult. Yuugi was just so undeniably  _ good _ . 

Atem could not in good conscience believe that he deserved him.  And yet here he was anyway, sharing his heart as he’d shared everything else with Atem for the past few years.

Atem burst into tears. Why was it so hard to maintain his composure anymore?

“Ayumu was right, wasn’t he? He was telling the truth.” Yuugi asked.

“I certainly am pathetic." Atem knew what Yuugi was talking about, but played dumb, still unwilling to admit what had been apparently plain for everyone to see except himself.

“You’re not.” Yuugi gave him a mildly annoyed look. “About how you feel. About me. He wasn’t lying, was he?”

Atem looked back down, hands worrying at the fabric of his pants leg. “No,” he managed, in the smallest voice possible.

Yuugi smiled and drew closer, but hesitantly, as if afraid of spooking him. “Then why do you look so... sad?”

Atem curled up tighter, knotted his hands further into the fabric. Wanting things never went well for him. He could never have what he wanted. Simple answers, simple friendships, simple relationships, these things were foreign. He wasn’t allowed those things. Everything was complex and confusing and how he felt about things was rarely relevant, and he had no reason to believe that had changed now that he wasn’t prince or pharaoh anymore. Wanting Yuugi, wanting to be in his life and stay with him, probably meant one thing: he couldn’t have exactly that. If that was just his problem that was something he could deal with. It hurt, he couldn’t deny that, but he was used to that kind of pain. He would, well, not live, but he could exist like that, keep existing like that.

But now he knew that he wasn’t the only person this would hurt, he wasn’t the only one who wanted something that he knew was impossible.

Now he knew his departure would hurt Yuugi, too.

And he couldn’t stand it.

Big, heaving sobs came with every shuddering breath, and Atem felt hands on his shoulders. He couldn’t see through the tears but Yuugi’s arms were around him and he was just so warm and despite himself he was calmed by Yuugi’s embrace. His breathing slowed and eventually he was able to blink away the tears. “I don’t want you to be hurt.”

“Atem, I don’t know how else to say this, but please care about yourself for once.” Yuugi’s eyes were rimmed with tears of his own as he pulled back to look Atem in his face. 

Atem’s chest felt tight. “What do you mean?”

“You need to learn to give your own feelings priority every once in a while! You’ve been through so much and you’ve barely had a chance to breathe and even now you’re worried about me. I’ll be fine! Please just rest, take care of yourself. Think about what you want.”

“But I can’t.” It seemed simple. “What point would there be? What I want doesn’t-”

“ _ It does! _ ” Yuugi cut him off, emphatic. “It matters  _ so _ much.” Yuugi pulled Atem back into a hug, suddenly clinging to him. “You matter. Not just because you saved the world, not just because you were the pharaoh, just because you’re you. You the person, you my other self, who I love, you matter, and what you want matters, and you act like it doesn’t, you think it doesn’t and it’s terrible! You deserve so much, you deserve so much better than what you’ve been given and I want to give you that.”

“You’ve already given me so much. Yuugi.” Atem let himself wrap his arms around his partner, against what he thought was his better judgement. “You’ve given me so much more than I ever could’ve asked for.”

“That’s only because you don’t know how to ask.” Yuugi’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I don’t know how to do it but I’m going to figure this out. You don’t have to exist for other people anymore. You don't have to just blindly follow the path others have set for you. We’ll make it work, somehow.”

Atem didn’t know how Yuugi could be so confident when all of Atem’s experience was screaming at him that there was nothing he could do. Two forces warred in his mind, the desire to hold onto Yuugi, to believe in his words and the possibility of a future, versus the trained impulse to squash this hope. This wasn’t the fate of the world, this wasn’t a battle against the forces of evil, this was a personal desire and Atem had a hard time with the idea that he could trust his personal desires. 

He pulled Yuugi closer, buried his face in the curve of his neck. “Please be right.”

They stayed like that for a moment, peaceful, trying to cling to the calm and the hope before what they knew was going to be one hell of a storm. For once their path, his path, was one taken up out of choice, against the grain of destiny, off the paved highway laid out before him and into uncharted wilderness. If Ayumu was right, the gods wouldn't like it. But he had given them so much, asking for this thing this one ounce of happiness, not only for himself but for Yuugi, who had also risked so much for the sake of their “destiny,” seemed so small in comparison. 

Yuugi pulled back, found Atem's face with his own and pressed his lips to Atem's cheek and Atem could feel his heart in his throat, fought back tears again. None of this seemed real. Technically it wasn't.  


“I know where we'll need to start, if we're really going to win your life back. Or rather, who we'll need to start with.”

Atem groaned, knowing who Yuugi meant. “Why would he help us? Why would he help me, specifically?”

“Because Bakura would tell him to, and because he may stand to gain from it as well. If we can figure out how to fix… this, giving Ayumu what he wants should be simple.”

“What he wants?”

“He wants what you don't. To move on.” Atem looked up, shocked. Surely after all this time, Ayumu knew the only thing waiting for him would be condemnation, even if he had been treated unfairly in his time among the living. Even if he didn't actually deserve it. Yuugi sighed. “Bakura told me. He doesn't hate you nearly as much as you think he does, he's just angry. At the world, the gods, himself. The way he sees it, oblivion would be better than continuing to exist with that.”

Atem nodded, knowing exactly the depths of despair that brought about that kind of hopeless mindset, only able to faintly imagine what being there for multiple millennia could do to a person. "Well, if anyone has experience in going against the will of destiny it's him.” Atem put his hand over Yuugi’s on his shoulder, gave it a faint squeeze, and closed his eyes. 

When he opened them again he was in control of Yuugi’s body again, sitting in a corner of Bakura’s apartment. He felt Yuugi there, spectral beside him, supporting him, giving him the courage he couldn’t work up on his own.

Bakura sat, curled up in a chair across the room, nose in a book. He must’ve heard Atem’s stirring because he looked up. “Oh, you’ve worked things out then?”

“Yes. Well, some of them. If- if you don’t mind, I need to speak to Ayumu again, please.”

“I thought you might.” Bakura smiled, and closed his eyes. The smile faded, and when those same eyes opened again they had the sharp, suspicious look about them that Ayumu always had.

“Hmph. Done being a little coward are you?” 

Atem bit back a retort; this one was just completely incapable of being civil wasn’t he? “I’ve made my decision. You act as though fate can be changed, as though my destiny is something that can be fought. Here’s your chance to prove those bold words.”

A grin, nearly feral, spread across Ayumu’s face, the first smile Atem had seen from him. “Ohoho, done being the gods’ willing pawn are we? And of course you had to come crawling to me for help.”

“This was, technically, your idea,” Atem reminded him. “It would be foolish of you to boast some sort of freedom from the bonds of fate, and my supposed cowardice for not standing against them, if you had no plan to combat them.”

“Right, right whatever. I do happen to have one idea, actually.” Ayumu rested his chin on his knuckles. “You’re supposed to duel your... landlord for the right to move on, right?”

“Yes, me dueling Yuugi had been the plan.”

“Duel me instead. The game to end all shadow games, one final showdown, for keeps this time. Highest stakes imaginable: the winner gets to stay with the living, the loser faces the judges. You win and we both get what we want, that should be enough for you to bring your "A" game, heart of the cards, whatever nonsense you use to pull wins out of nowhere. It better be, because of course I’m not gonna be slacking, that wouldn’t satisfy anyone.”

Atem raised an eyebrow. “You think that would work?”

“Of course I do. Give the gods a choice between their golden boy going a little against their wishes and the ex-servant of their enemy of thousands of years and who do you think they’re going to pick? If they really want you in the afterlife so badly they’re gonna have to back me to win and I don’t think they could stomach it. Watching peasants like me suffer is the most entertainment they get.” The smile twisted into a sneer. “They can’t win everything but at least if they give you what you want they get to toss me to their pet like I’m table scraps. No guarantees or promises here of course but it's the best chance either of us has got.”

“I can’t say you’re wrong.” Atem frowned. Ayumu was so cavalier about the end of his own existence. Though he held no particular love for his former enemy, Atem could at least start to respect him, and he was beginning to understand Yuugi’s point about himself. Watching Ayumu care so little for his own fate was distressing, to say the least. “This would still have to take place in Egypt, I assume, in -” he couldn’t say the words ‘my tomb,’ so he cleared his throat instead. “Bakura would be willing to travel for this?”

“The landlord was already planning on trying to come with you for the ceremony anyway. Oh, whoops I think I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” Ayumu stuck out his tongue and his eyes rolled upward, as though he was trying to look at his own forehead. “Too bad.”

_ ‘It should be a team duel,’ _ Yuugi piped up.  _ ‘Me and you versus Ayumu and Bakura. We have stakes in this, too, don’t forget, it's not like we should have to sit by and do nothing. Wasn't the whole point of this for me to 'prove myself' or something? If we both win, against a separate 'enemy,' we should both get what we want.’ _

Atem hesitantly voiced Yuugi’s suggestion aloud. He didn't like it but the reasoning was sound. As sound as any of the reasoning around this idea was.  


“No,” Ayumu vetoed, without hesitation. “Absolutely not, too dangerous, the chance to - to take away one of these two would be too tempting for the powers that be, especially with how bad we’d probably be pissing them off, we’re not risking tha-aack!” His sentence cut off with a strange noise and he shuddered hard.

Bakura was in charge again. “Brilliant idea, we’re doing it. Yuugi’s suggestion?”

“Yes...?” Atem was... confused. Clearly these two had some communication issues to work out still. “How- Why- ???” He gestured vaguely at Bakura, hoping for some elaboration.

“The risk may be the only way to get it to work. Yuugi may have to be involved in the duel for it to work at all, and putting the two of us out there, an opportunity to punish everyone involved in this little rebellion, may give the gods some incentive to allow the duel to actually function. Bait and switch. And Yuugi and I, we’re both involved in this, we both care about the outcome as much as the two of you do. You can’t protect us forever.” Bakura’s clever, self-satisfied smile was replaced with a dark look as he allowed Ayumu back to the forefront.

“You can’t just - No!” Ayumu was clearly not talking to Atem. “You’re not bait! I won’t allow it! If the v-  _ Yuugi _ , has to be involved for the duel to work, I’ll duel alone against both of them! I don’t care!”

“Just let him do it,” Atem sighed. “You won’t be able to stop him, clearly, and if they're right about Yuugi’s involvement being required then I doubt the rules will allow for a two on one fight either. The ceremonial duel is meant to be a test of skill between equals." Atem frowned. "And, I doubt Yuugi and Bakura would be in any actual danger, anyway. They're still, well they're alive, and had we gone through with the original ceremony and Yuugi, somehow, lost... he wasn't putting his soul on the line there, I just would have gotten stuck in the Puzzle again. Something like that.” He hoped.  


Ayumu glowered. “I didn’t ask for your opinion,” he snarled, but it was clear he was losing the battle here. “It’s just. It’s a bad idea is all! I don't think it's worth it! But fine, you want to risk your soul,” this was clearly directed at Bakura again, “be my guest. I don’t know why I even care. I shouldn’t bother.” He crossed his arms and sulked, but the grumpy expression was quickly replaced by one of delight as Bakura took back control.

Atem relinquished control of Yuugi’s body, as well, letting the pair spend the rest of the night talking about the arrangements that needed to be made.

_ ‘Thank you, partner.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 10 Title: Gun by Chvrches
> 
> Hoo Boy We're Leading Into Some Convoluted Bullshit, My Friends (tho lbr the canon ceremonial duel was also convoluted bullshit)


	11. (nobody can save me) Now It's Do Or Die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bakura's POV
> 
> Coming into the end stretch now, it's time for my Revised(tm) version of the ceremonial duel. Please bear with me considering that I never read or watched the canon ceremonial duel. The canon ending was trash anyway that's why we're here, anyway enjoy

Bakura had slept for most of the flight, dreamless, catching up on the incredible amount of sleep he had missed. Since that last nightmare, and Ayumu’s naming he’d been able to sleep soundly, but over the last couple of weeks he’d been staying up anyway, building his deck, his way, and helping Ayumu with his own. He wasn’t the master duelist that Yuugi was, but he was still pretty good; RPGs may have been more his speed usually but he was certainly no novice to Duel Monsters strategy. 

It felt strange. This whole row of plane seats was filled with their friends, his and Yuugi’s, but this time he wasn’t with them all as support, or background. He was  _ involved _ . It was exciting, and wonderful, but it also made him incredibly antsy as the plane touched down.

Everyone collected their bags from the overheads, they all shuffled out, and the Ishtar family was waiting for them by the baggage claim in the airport. Yuugi’s arrangements, he was sure; they’d need someone to guide them to the Valley of the Kings, of course, and who better than the guardians of the pharaoh’s tomb. 

The rest of the group greeted each other with big smiles and gestures of affection. Bakura hung back. He’d been unconscious for most of Battle City, when these people had gotten to know each other, so he couldn’t claim much familiarity with anyone in the Ishtar family. Ayumu clung to the back of his mind with an uneasy feeling.

One of them, Malik, Bakura recognized for sure. That one flushed when he saw Bakura, a look of embarrassment and guilt overtaking his face. He avoided Bakura’s eyes. Ayumu kept trying to give Bakura the impulse to avoid Malik’s. He ignored it, and stared instead.

After the group collected their checked bags - the Rod, at least, with it’s concealed dagger, would’ve been impossible to get through security in a carry-on, and some of the others packed more stuff than Bakura - they followed the Ishtars to a waiting vehicle.   
Bakura didn’t absorb much of the scenery, too caught up in the scenarios running through his head, the things that could happen in this duel.

It took Ayumu’s prompting for him to realise that he was actually nervous.

They moved from the vehicle to a boat, the weather was too bad for the smaller plane they had been supposed to take across the river to make the trip. The second-eldest Ishtar, the woman, Isis, made some commentary about the irony of the religious symbolism of them being forced to make the journey by boat. Bakura didn’t absorb any of it. 

The others had finally stopped giving him strange, nervous looks for the first time since they’d found out he kept the Ring and still harbored Ayumu’s spirit, but he couldn’t enjoy that, either.

It was all just filler until they actually got into the chamber. This was it.

They got inside and there was the stone, it looked familiar to Bakura as though through some ancestral memory, and he realised it was Ayumu’s memory he was recognizing. The place where the Items were forged, the slots for each of them, right there. 

He let out a long breath he hadn’t noticed himself holding.

Yuugi opened his bag and started putting all the Items in their spaces, the Rod and the Scales, the Tauk, the Eye, the Key. He turned and looked to Bakura.

Bakura reluctantly lifted the cord of the Ring from around his neck, handed it over. Ayumu made a whining noise in the back of his mind.

Yuugi slotted the Ring into place, then lifted the Puzzle, the Pendant, from around his own neck with equal reluctance, placing it into the stone slowly and with a pained finality.

For a moment nothing happened.

Then the world split open.

Well, not actually, but that’s what it felt like, to Bakura at least. Everything went strange and his vision blurred and it probably hurt but before he could really, truly process it as pain it was over. And Ayumu wasn’t in his head anymore.

It felt like a loss, uncomfortable, like the gap his baby teeth had left when he lost them back in primary school.

As Bakura looked up, the blurry form next to him sharpened, and he wasn’t sure if the figure had actually been blurry or if it was just his vision, but regardless he was now looking, unmistakably, at Ayumu.

Sharp grey eyes peered out at him from under messy white hair, framing a dark, scarred face. He wore the same clothes as Bakura, but they fit differently on his significantly stockier frame. 

Bakura sucked in a breath. It worked.

Looking over at Yuugi, a similar phenomenon had happened. Next to Yuugi stood another figure, with the same approximate build and strikingly similar hair, but noticeably darker skin. His eyes, sunset red, held the same look “Yuugi” often had when he dueled, the same look the pharaoh in Yuugi’s skin had in Bakura’s own apartment when they’d all made these arrangements some couple of weeks ago. This must be Atem.

Yuugi pulled two decks out of his baggage and, after a cursory glance at the cards, handed one to his counterpart.

Bakura followed suit, shuffling his cards and slotting his own deck into place in the duel disc he’d put on while they were still on the boat. 

The four of them stood in a tense square, discs at the ready, onlookers watching from the fringes. The holo-casters positioned themselves around the room. Four life-point counters set themselves to 4000.

Bakura swallowed.

Duel start. 

“I’m first.” The four of them drew their starting hands and Bakura glanced over at Ayumu before focusing on his own cards. Dark Necrofear in his opening hand was a bit of luck he’d not dared hope for, and yet here she was, along with two of the three low-level fiends that would need to go to his graveyard for her summon. Even better, one of them was Sangan. “I play this defensive monster,” he said, placing the Sangan facedown on his duel disc and slotting a trap into the reader, “and set a card facedown to end my turn.” He nodded at Atem.

“My turn, I draw.” He contemplated the cards in his hand. “I play Queen’s Knight in defence mode, and I also place one card facedown. That ends my turn.”

The next turn was Ayumu’s. He drew. Bakura watched his eyes dart across the cards as he rearranged his hand, frowning. “I play two cards facedown and that’s it for me. Your go.” He jerked his head at Yuugi.

Yuugi nodded calmly, drawing. He’d be the first one allowed to attack, now that everyone had been through their first draw, and he seemed to be keeping that in mind as he quietly scanned his cards. “I place these two cards facedown,” he said, doing so, “And play Silent Swordsman level 1 in attack mode.” 

The hologram of the small Swordsman and his child-sized greatsword appeared and Ayumu grimaced. This was a card Bakura hadn’t seen played, much less in Yuugi’s hands, but Ayumu seemed familiar with it. Ayumu had told Bakura that Yuugi had dueled a part of Zorc, wearing a fragment of Ayumu and Bakura’s face, apparently, in the memory world game, and that the deck he’d been using was different from the one they were both familiar with, but he hadn’t had much in the way of helpful knowledge of what cards it contained, being so far gone and scattered himself when the duel had happened. Regardless of how good his memory had been, Ayumu didn’t like the look of the baby swordsman monster.

Yuugi paid no mind. “Silent Swordsman, attack Bakura’s facedown monster!” he ordered. Yuugi’s monster obeyed, springing into action and slicing through the hologram of Sangan’s hidden card. The card flipped up, revealing the Sangan hologram for mere moments before it shattered.

Bakura smiled. “As you know, Sangan’s special ability allows me to add another low-attack monster to my hand from my deck when it’s destroyed.” He pulled his deck from the disc and sifted through it. “I think I’ll take this one.” The deck went back, re-shuffled.

Yuugi nodded and passed his turn to Bakura.

“I draw.” Bakura smiled. The Double Summon spell card, perfect. “I play this spell, Double Summon, which allows me to summon two monsters this turn. These two will do nicely,” he set down the two weak fiends, “in defense position, and that’ll end my turn.”

Atem drew his card. “I summon Beta, the Magnet Warrior, in attack position, and change my Queen’s Knight to attack position as well.” He exchanged a glance with Yuugi, and eyed Ayumu’s facedowns with suspicion. “Then, my monsters, attack Bakura’s facedown monsters.”

Ayumu opened his mouth to protest, but Bakura cut him off with a look, a split second warning glance that apparently conveyed what he wanted it to, hopefully without giving too much away to the other two. While the outcome they all wanted seemed to rest on Atem winning and Ayumu losing, Bakura was still playing to win. They all were. It wouldn’t be real enough if they weren’t, and privately, Bakura wasn’t convinced that Atem’s victory was the only condition for a happy ending. Especially not if it meant Ayumu was going to be thrown to the dogs, so to speak. Though Ayumu said it was what he wanted, the idea of it felt deeply wrong to Bakura somehow.

There had to be another way.

Beta and Queen’s Knight slashed through the hologram cards and Winged Minion and Skull Knight #2 went to the graveyard. Everything was in place for Dark Necrofear’s summoning. He just had to keep himself safe until it was his turn again. 

It was Ayumu’s turn. He drew, and huffed a sigh of annoyed relief. “That’ll work. I play Stray Lambs,” he activated the spell card he’d just drawn, “giving me two tokens to protect myself with for now. End turn.”

That passed it back to Yuugi, who drew a card. “After I draw, my Silent Swordsman gains a level, as well as some attack.” The monster grew, apparently moving closer towards adolescence. “Also, I summon Marshmallon in attack mode!” 

Ayumu groaned.   
Another card Bakura was mostly unfamiliar with but Ayumu seemed to know, Yuugi had definitely completely rebuilt his deck and was using the same one he had against Zorc and Ayumu here, and the one Bakura was more familiar with was more or less the one in Atem’s position. Though not unexpected, it made Bakura a little uneasy. 

“Marshmallon, attack one of Ayumu’s lamb tokens!” The dessert puff’s surprisingly pointy teeth made quick work of the token, to much eye-rolling from Ayumu, and Bakura expected the swordsman to demolish the other one equally quickly. “Silent Swordsman, attack Bakura directly!” 

This took Bakura by surprise, and he fumbled for the buttons on his disc to activate his trap. “Not quite yet! I activate my trap, Wall of Disruption!” The facedown hologram revealed itself and a forcefield giving off waves of distortion stretched up in the way of Silent Swordsman’s attack. “All your attack position monsters lose 800 attack for every monster on your side of the field! That leaves your Marshmallon with nothing, and your Swordsman with a mere 200 attack.” Both monsters sagged, looking exhausted.

“True, but you do still take that 200 damage,” Yuugi said, as his swordsman fought his way through the waves of the field, swinging his sword through Bakura’s torso. 

There was a numb, cold feeling where the sword had passed as Bakura’s lifepoint counter deducted the 200 points. He couldn’t tell if it was his imagination or not. 

Yuugi’s turn ended and that passed it back to Bakura. No time to worry about funny feelings, it was go time.

“I draw.” Darklord Marie, nice, if he could just get her into the graveyard the points he’d lost to Yuugi’s swordsman didn’t matter. “I remove from play my three monsters you two have destroyed in the past few turns, to summon Dark Necrofear from my hand!” Bakura took the banished cards from his graveyard and put them to the side, slapping one of his favorite monsters on the field with a feeling of triumphant glee. From a corner, Jounouchi made a revolted, terrified noise and Bakura remembered for the first time since the beginning of the duel that they had spectators.

“Why do you still run those creepy cards Bakura?” came the distraught voice of Jounouchi, who Bakura realised had probably hoped the Ring Spirit’s strategies in Battle City were entirely unrelated to Bakura’s own real taste in cards. He forgot sometimes that the occult, which he genuinely found so fascinating, was a source of fear and disgust for some.

“I like them,” he replied back simply. “Necrofear has been one of my favorites since she came out, actually.” 

Jounouchi’s only response was a distressed sounding whine.

Bakura elected to ignore him, and focused on his turn. If he let Yuugi's Swordsman level up again, the effects of his Wall on it would probably fade, putting the monster at 2500 attack points, more than capable of wiping out the monster Bakura had just managed to summon. But as he was now, he was vulnerable. His decision was made. “Dark Necrofear, destroy Yuugi's Silent Swordsman!”

As quickly as she charged her attack, Yuugi was quicker. “Not yet! I reveal my facedown card, Marshmallon Glasses!” One of Yuugi's facedowns revealed itself, and out of the card a pair of cartoonishly ridiculous spectacles appeared and promptly attached themselves to Dark Necrofear's face, deflecting her attack and redirecting it. “If all your monster can see is my Marshmallon, that's all it can attack! And Marshmallon's special ability means it can't be destroyed by battle.”

Still, Marshmallon was still in attack position, and had no attack points left thanks to Bakura's Wall trap, so Yuugi took the full brunt of Dark Necrofear's 2200 attack points, wiping out over half his life points pretty early in the game. Yuugi shivered visibly as Marshmallon got blasted and his point counter dropped.

“Yuugi.” Atem's look of concern suggested he regretted not activating one of his own facedown cards to stop the attack but Yuugi waved him off. 

“I'm fine.”

Bakura and Ayumu exchanged a glance. Bakura set another card facedown and passed his turn to Atem.

He drew. “I sacrifice my Queen's Knight and my Beta the Magnet Warrior to summon my Dark Magician!” The two level 4 monsters went to the graveyard and another hologram appeared, a figure in dark purple robes that was deeply familiar to anyone who had watched Yuugi's tournament duels in the past. However, instead of the pale skin and purple hair that Bakura knew was on the card art, the “hologram” had skin very close in shade to Atem's own, and dark brown hair. Atem looked like he was staring at a ghost.

Ayumu did, too, for that matter.

Dark Magician turned his head to look at Atem, and nodded, once.

If there had been any doubt left about the nature of this duel in anyone's minds, it was no longer there. 

Atem nodded back to his monster, as though making a promise, and resumed his turn. “I place another card facedown. Now! Dark Magician! Destroy Dark Necrofear! Dark Magic Attack!”

“Like hell!” Ayumu snarled, activating one of his own traps. “Negate attack stops your attack from going through! Try again next turn!” The blast was absorbed into the ether, and Atem passed his turn. 

It was Ayumu’s turn, he drew. “Now! I sacrifice my remaining token to summon this! Diabound Kernel!” A large, alabaster creature burst forth, with the upper body of a horned, winged man, trailing down into a tail that was the front half of a viper, and both Atem and his Dark Magician settled into uneasy, defensive stances. “Now I'll discard this monster to activate my Magic Jammer trap card, say goodbye to your Marshmallon Glasses!” The hologram of the card in front of Yuugi shattered, and the glasses on Dark Necrofear's face followed suit. “Now, my Shallow Grave magic card will bring back the monster I just discarded in defense mode, and I'll place my last card facedown to end my turn.”

Bakura knew why he hadn't attacked. Ayumu’s Diabound Kernel was too important to his long term strategy for him to risk it to Yuugi and Atem's facedown cards.

He just hoped it would last through their next turns.

Yuugi drew, and with his standby phase came another level up for his Swordsman, ending the effects of the Wall of Disruption on it and bringing his attack up to 2500. The monster looked decidedly teenaged now, like a character from some shounen manga about swords.

“First I’ll change my Marshmallon to defense position. Then, Silent Swordsman, attack Dark Necrofear!” Silent Swordsman leapt forward and slashed through Dark Necrofear, and Bakura winced as his best monster shattered, taking 300 more of his life points with it in another wave of prickling chill. 

“Before I end my turn, I’ll set this one card facedown. Your move Bakura.” Yuugi nodded and Bakura drew his card.

“That’s not the last you’ll see of my Dark Necrofear, Yuugi,” Bakura warned. “In fact, here she is back again already.” Bakura retrieved the monster card from his graveyard and slotted it into one of the spell and trap zones on his disc. A ghostly specter of the monster rose up before him. “When Dark Necrofear is sent to the graveyard, I can use her special ability to take control of one other monster on the field, and I choose the monster that destroyed her in the first place. Your Silent Swordsman is mine Yuugi!” Glowing blue threads extended from the tips of the fingers on Necrofear’s free hand, wrapping themselves around Yuugi’s swordsman, attaching to its limbs and swinging it over to Bakura’s side of the field. Soon the monster hung limply in the air in front of Bakura, a mindless puppet with Bakura’s Dark Necrofear as the puppeteer. The sight set off a twinge in Bakura’s chest; it was an experience he could relate to, and the exact visuals reminded him of his nightmares. This was different, though, and being the one pulling the strings instead of the marionette being pulled held a certain exhilaration, especially since he knew the only puppet was a trading card, not a living person.

Bakura eyed Atem’s Dark Magician warily. That one he was less sure about being ‘only a trading card’.

“I also place one card face down, and end my turn.” Attacking Yuugi’s Marshmallon was useless, and Bakura had no desire to give up his meat shield so easily by crashing it into Atem’s Dark Magician, especially not right before Atem’s turn.

Atem drew. “Dark Magician! Attack Ayumu’s Diabound Kernel! But first, since I declared an attack with a spellcaster monster, I can activate my own trap card!” One of Atem’s facedown holograms revealed itself. “Magician’s Circle allows me to summon another spellcaster with 2000 or less attack directly from my deck, and I choose my Dark Magician Girl!”

“Don’t forget,” Bakura chided. “Magician’s Circle lets  _ everyone _ summon a monster, provided they have one that fits the bill in their deck, which it just so happens that I do. Meet my High Priestess of Shadows, in defense mode.” The dark robed witch appeared before him, next to the controlled swordsman, hands clasped in a prayer of defense.

“I’ll also summon a spellcaster,” Yuugi chimed in. “Silent Magician! In Attack mode!” A monster appeared on his field, too, another child as Silent Swordsman had started out, this time a white haired little girl with a scepter in blue and white mage’s robes. Bakura assumed the magician would grow with time, as the swordsman had. Despite how troublesome that would doubtless be, he couldn’t help but feel kind of soft about the monster, the design of which reminded him of his own character in the first Monster World game he’d played with Yuugi and the others. Sure the game had gone directly to hell with Zorc’s intervention, but it was still kind of fun.

Atem’s own monster also appeared, and much like Dark Magician, the Dark Magician Girl hologram deviated from the card art, with darker skin and hair than the printed image. Dark Magician Girl spun as she took the field, and winked at Atem and Dark Magician before facing outwards to prepare for battle.

Bakura may have been imagining things but he thought he saw Dark Magician roll his eyes.

“I have nothing to summon, continue your attack,” grumbled Ayumu, and Atem nodded, suddenly even more somber despite the apparently bubbly disposition of his newest monster.

“Dark Magician, continue your attack! Destroy Diabound Kernel!”

“Not so fast,” Bakura corrected, and revealed a facedown card. “I’ll attach this Attack Guidance Armor to my High Priestess, meaning your magician will destroy  _ her  _ instead. Sorry.” The apology was almost as much directed to the monster he was sacrificing as it was to Atem.

“Then I’ll place this card facedown, and end my turn.”

It was Ayumu’s turn. Bakura hoped the time he’d bought Ayumu and his monsters with that maneuver would be enough. Enough for what, he wasn’t entirely sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 11 Title: Battle Cry by Imagine Dragons
> 
> I have to apologize for how crunchy this duel is as written. I play competitively (tho not well, mostly only at locals), and taking as many creative liberties with the rules as they do in the anime is hard on my brain, also i kinda needed to lean on the structure the irl rules provided for any of this to be functionally understandable. Also this section was originally planned and written over the course of two near-sleepless nights. hopefully it's readable lol.  
I also did make up a couple of monsters for this duel. Some filler and one relatively important one that'll show up next chapter.  
Anyway, we're almost done. Thanks for sticking with me this far <3


	12. (the beginning of the end of) Infinity With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last One! Ayumu's POV of course, we started with him and we're ending with him
> 
> hey guys what does pot of greed do? I wonder, maybe we'll find out :3 *gets bricked*

Ayumu looked at his hand and heaved a huge sigh. “My turn. I draw.” He was almost nervous to look at the new card, and was relieved when the green, grinning face of Pot of Greed stared back at him. “I play Pot of Greed, and draw two more cards.” If he didn’t get what he needed in this draw he was screwed, there was only so long he could hold onto his monsters before the stall tactics failed, and by the time his next turn rolled around it would probably be too late. He plucked the two cards from the top of his deck and added them into the small fan of cards in his hand. Just what he’d needed. “Alright! I summon Possessed Dark Spirit, and flip my other monster face up with it, and then use Polymerization to fuse these two monsters to my Diabound!” He played the spell, and discarded his three monsters to lay down the fusion. On the field, the hologram of Diabound Kernel seemed to be absorbing the other two monsters, glowing and growing. “Meet my new and improved monster: Diabound, God of the Betrayed!” This was his trump card and the full modern incarnation of the spirit ka he’d wielded so long ago in his first crusade against the pharaoh. The monster on the field was now nearly twice the size of the Diabound Kernel he’d used to create it, a slightly darker shade of stony, marble grey streaked across its chest and arms with darker markings. Its shrieking roar shook the room. Ayumu would have almost sworn he felt it once again, Diabound’s pained rage, its fury and thirst for holy destruction running through his veins alongside his own blood. The very same desire for vengeance, for justice, that had caused him to reach out for Zorc the first time, that had allowed it to corrupt them, both himself and this beast, into tools of meaningless chaos.

If he had to replay some of those decisions, even the ones he may have regretted, in order to prevent more pain, in order to make the gods pay for what they had allowed, so be it.

“Now I play the magic card Quick Attack, which allows my fusion monster to attack the turn it was summoned. Our target is your Dark Magician!” Ayumu swallowed the lump of what he refused to acknowledge as guilt that was crawling up his throat, and Diabound’s snake head twisted upward, mouth gaping to unleash a torrent of spiralling energy towards the former priest.

“Dark Magician, counterattack!” Atem shouted, a nearly concealed twinge of panic causing his voice to rise ever so slightly. The mage shot off a blast of dark magic, but Ayumu already knew it wasn’t enough.

The collision of energies created a massive cloud of dust in the ancient chamber.

The air cleared around the former pharaoh first, revealing his field to be empty of his most powerful monster. “Mahad,” came the strangled whisper, “not again.” 

Ayumu didn’t look at Atem, didn’t acknowledge the tears welling up in his eyes. Ayumu didn’t look at Yuugi, either, the face of shock, pain, borderline betrayal, his indignant desire to comfort and protect his other half. He kept his eyes fixed on the dust still settling around him.

“All you’ve done is destroy both monsters!” The pain and anger in Atem’s voice matched the pitch of Diabound’s, still buzzing at the base of Ayumu’s skull.  _ Good, hate me. _

“Not really.” Ayumu kept his emotions out of his voice, did his best to pretend they weren’t there. The rest of the cloud cleared to reveal Diabound, unscathed, shielded by the fading ghost of the Twin Headed Wolf that had been used as material to summon it, removed from play to trigger Diabound’s effect. “As long as I have the lesser fiends I used to summon it still in my graveyard, I can remove one from play any time Diabound would be destroyed to keep it on the field. And I’m sure you remember my monster’s other ability, from the old days.” Before their eyes, Diabound began to grow once again, the dark streaks spreading across its body. The bloodthirsty buzzing in Ayumu’s head grew louder. “In case you needed a refresher, my monster gains half the attack of any monster he destroys in battle, in this case your Dark Magician, putting him at well over 3000 attack. Even the white dragon is no match for my Diabound now!” Another piercing roar split the air in the room, Diabound demanded the attention of all, and more importantly their fear. “Just in case, though, I’ll put this last card face down here before I end my turn.”

Ayumu took as steady of a breath as he could while Yuugi took his turn, simply setting a defensive monster to protect his life points before passing.

It was Bakura’s turn again. Ayumu’s former landlord glanced over at him, wary and considering, as he drew his card. He set two cards on the field, a monster and a spell or trap, without much fanfare. “And now I activate the spell Card Destruction, forcing all of us to discard our whole hands and draw five new cards.” His timing couldn't have been much better; Ayumu’s hand was empty and Bakura’s was sparse and apparently not of much use, while Atem and Yuugi both had at least a few cards. “Now, Silent Swordsman, attack the Dark Magician Girl!” The specter of Necrofear tugged at the strings controlling the swordsman, lifting its arms and directing it into unleashing a slashing attack at the apprentice magician.

“I activate my trap!” Atem announced. “Magic Cylinder will redirect your stolen monster’s attack straight back at you!” With hands far shakier than anything on a hologram should’ve been, Dark Magician Girl summoned the cylinders from Atem’s trap card, taking the attack aimed at her into one of them and aiming the other at Bakura, for the attack to come blasting directly out at him. Ayumu wanted to do something about it, to stop the attack, but it was too late and there was nothing he could do. The energy slash broke across Bakura’s torso and dissipated around him, taking most of his life points as he shivered worryingly.

Atem’s turn passed uneventfully, he only summoned his King of Mythical Beasts in defense mode and placed two cards face down before passing, glowering darkly at Ayumu.

Ayumu drew a card.

“I’ll put these two cards facedown, and now Diabound, destroy the other Dark Magician!”

Dark Magician Girl visibly braced herself as though it would help, eyes shining with determination. Atem’s eyes, however, were ablaze.

“I’ll save my Dark Magician Girl! Mirror Force, destroy his Diabound with its own attack!” 

Diabound’s blast bounced off the trap, amplifying and scattering back towards the beast, but to no avail.

“Did you forget Diabound’s first ability?” Ayumu asked coldly, discarding the other monster he’d used to forge Diabound from his graveyard. The specter of the Possessed Dark Spirit appeared between Diabound and its own redirected attack, taking the blow and allowing it to escape unharmed once again.

“So that ability even works on the destructive power of spells and traps.” Atem glowered.

“Yes.”

Dark Magician Girl still stood on the field, though, so Diabound did not gain the power boost Ayumu had been hoping for. He passed his turn.

Yuugi drew and opened the turn with a spell card. “Compulsory Evacuation Device allows me to return one of my monsters from the field to my hand, and I’m choosing my Silent Magician.” The monster’s hologram disappeared and Yuugi shuffled the card into his hand. “Now, I sacrifice my Marshmallon and my facedown monster to summon Gandora, the Dragon of Destruction! Gandora’s special ability activates!” The massive black dragon appeared on Yuugi’s field, screaming a roar as the red gems embedded along its body began to glow. Laserlike beams of light shot out from all the gems, cutting and piercing across every inch of the playing field. “ _ Every _ other monster on the field is destroyed, Ayumu, and your Diabound doesn’t have any more monsters in your graveyard to keep it safe this time!”

The controlled Silent Swordsman, Dark Necrofear, and both of Atem’s monsters dissolved in the beams, but they bounced off of Diabound like nothing.

“Diabound’s third ability keeps it from being destroyed by the abilities of other monsters.” 

Yuugi frowned. “Either way, Gandora gains 300 attack for every monster it destroyed, giving it 1200 points. Gandora, attack Bakura’s life points directly!”

Ayumu was caught off guard. If that hit, Bakura’s life points would drop to 0, and he would lose. There was no telling what would happen to him.

“Not so fast! I activate the trap Astral Barrier!” Ayumu interrupted. “I can use this card to turn any attack into a direct attack on my life points instead!” The projection of a humanoid shielded Bakura from the attack, diverting the damage to Ayumu. He felt a numbing, sucking cold in his chest as the attack hit and his life points began to drop, and grimaced. He’d felt worse but it was still unpleasant. 

At the end of Yuugi’s turn, his dragon disappeared to the graveyard, leaving Ayumu’s Diabound as the only monster on the field.

It was Bakura’s turn. He drew. “Because I discarded Darklord Marie to my graveyard on my last turn, I now gain 200 life points, and I will at the beginning every turn I take while she’s in my graveyard. In the meantime I’ll summon the Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams, in attack mode! Additionally, I’ll sacrifice this Winged Minion from my hand, to activate its effect! Its attack points get transferred to my Ghost, giving me a total of 2100 points! Gross Ghost, attack Yuugi directly!”

Ayumu had thought Bakura and Yuugi considered themselves friends; were they trying to get each other killed or worse? The penalty for losing this game was permanent death, at least for the two players who had already died; there was no telling what would happen if the loser was one of their two modern hosts!

Atem quickly discarded his Kuriboh to prevent the attack from doing any damage, and Ayumu let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding.

Bakura passed and Atem drew his card. “My turn! I activate my facedown card, Eternal Soul, which will call back my Dark Magician from the grave! Return, my friend.” The robed magician returned to the field, eyes shining and looking surprised to be there. His stare fixed on Ayumu, on Diabound, and a dangerous look clouded his face. 

“Now I activate the spell, Bond Between Teacher and Student! Since I brought back my Dark Magician, this also brings back my Dark Magician Girl, and allows me to set one spell card facedown. And now that both my Dark Magician and my Dark Magician Girl are on the field, I can play this spell! Dark Burning Magic! Both teacher and student combine their powers to destroy every card on my opponents’ side of the field! There’s no escaping this time Ayumu!” The two magicians put their staffs together, generating a large energy blast to cast the spell.

“That’d be where you’re wrong, I still have a couple more tricks to pull. I activate My Body As A Shield, sacrificing 1500 of my life points to keep Diabound on the field.” Ayumu felt that same terrible cold as the life points drained, but at least Diabound was protected. His other facedown card shattered but he could live with that.

All of Bakura’s cards disappeared in the magical blast too, including his defensive monster. He was completely unprotected. Ayumu snarled. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“My magicians’ spell was meant to destroy all of my opponents’ cards, Ayumu, and you’re not my only opponent don’t forget.” Atem shrugged. “However, since I activated that card I can’t attack, so that’ll be the end of my turn.”

“Which makes it my turn!” Ayumu shouted. He had to get rid of those magicians again, otherwise Bakura would be easily wiped out on Atem’s next turn; he’d only be able to intercept one attack with Diabound. He barely even glanced at the card he drew. “Diabound, attack! Destroy the Dark Magician once again!”

“You forgot about my facedown card, Ayumu,” Atem tutted. “I activate the magic card Dark Magic Twin Burst! This allows Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl to combine their powers to counterattack! Your beast may be strong, but it isn’t strong enough to defeat both Dark Magicians at once! This duel is over!” The combined attack from both magicians cut through Diabound’s spiral blast easily, striking the monster in the chest and finally, finally destroying it. The cold hit again; along with Diabound, the magicians had taken away 750 of Ayumu’s life points. Ayumu couldn’t stop himself from shivering this time, and with only 650 points left, the chill lingered.

It was Yuugi’s turn. “I summon my Silent Magician back to the field!”

Ayumu lifted his head. “I activate Diabound’s final effect!” All eyes snapped back to him and it was all he could do to stand up straight. “When my Diabound is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, on the next turn I can banish the Diabound Kernel it came from, and bring back my beast back to the field once again!” Diabound’s enormous grey figure appeared before him once again, but shrunken from the one that had left the field a turn ago. When he brought it back, it came back without any of the power boosts it had gained from destroying other monsters.

Worry started to show in the cracks of Atem’s confident facade.

Yuugi, however, was unphased.

“I activate Silent Burning Magic! This allows my magician to, for this turn, grow to her full power of 3500 attack, despite the fact that I just summoned her!” The child witch grew in a time lapse, metamorphosing into an adult in mere moments. 

Ayumu swallowed. This was it. Yuugi’s magician was more than a match for Diabound in his current state, and Ayumu was out of tricks to save himself. 

“Now Silent Magician! Attack Bakura’s life points directly!” 

No! That wasn’t supposed to happen! It was him, Yuugi was supposed to attack him, he was supposed to attack Ayumu, not Bakura! He had to be the one to lose! “Diabound, block it!” The order was a strangled shout, Ayumu’s voice cracked and everything was suddenly moving in slow motion as he turned to shield Bakura with his own body, to attempt to protect this boy who had already been through far too much on his behalf, praying, for the first time in his life praying, that he wasn’t too slow.

The magic blast tore through Diabound’s weakened form. Ayumu’s body felt filled with cold fire as the last of his life points counted down off his duel disc display. He dropped to his knees, only about a foot from Bakura now. His cards fell from his hand. It was over.

After all this time, Ayumu’s existence was finally over.

The last thing he saw were Bakura’s eyes, turned toward him and filled with desperate tears, before his ears were filled with ringing and the room disappeared in an all consuming blinding light.

Weird.

Suddenly there was a voice, filling Ayumu’s skull the same way Zorc’s had in Bakura’s nightmare. The voice was different though, smoother and colder.

** _THE ONE CALLED ‘AYUMU’ IS A HALFBEING. THE ONE CALLED ‘AYUMU’ IS UNFORGOTTEN AND IS OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE SHADOWS. THE ONE CALLED ‘AYUMU’ CANNOT BE JUDGED, CANNOT BE EXILED, AND CANNOT BE ACCEPTED INTO THE WORLD BEYOND. THE ONE CALLED ‘AYUMU’ WILL STAY IN THE LIVINGWORLD UNTIL HE HAS A HEART TO BE WEIGHED AND A NATURE TO BE CONSIDERED._ **

What?

Ayumu blinked open his eyes. He was lying in the dirt, on cold stone, and his body hurt far too much for him to be dead or a specter. His vision slowly cleared and he made his way into a sitting position. He tasted blood; at some point he’d bitten his tongue. 

Five other figures around him were also on the ground. They were still in the chamber where they had dueled, Bakura was working himself up onto his knees only a few inches away, and across the room Yuugi and Atem were also starting to stir, along with two figures in robes. The taller of the two unknowns was up first, a striking, long haired silhouette that wasn’t hard for Ayumu to recognize.

Aside from himself and the former pharaoh, it seemed Atem’s favorite priest and his wayward apprentice were also brought back.

Ayumu felt dizzy and almost had to lie down again. 

“You’re still here!” Bakura’s voice was almost too loud in his ears, his physical, living ears, and suddenly the boy’s long arms were around him in the first actual hug Ayumu had had since he was a child. “I didn’t want you to go,” he confessed tearfully. “There’s so much more for you here than you realise, you don’t deserve oblivion you deserve a life! I couldn’t stand to see you throw yourself to nothingness but you’re here you’re still here, thank gods you’re still here.”

“Why though? How?”

“You only had half a soul,” came the explanation in a voice Ayumu had never wanted to hear again. Mahad continued. “You were unjudgable, a being with more form than an infant but not enough substance to be weighed. Most of what you were was Zorc and Zorc is gone. And, well, you weren't expected to have a name, your own name, after all this time.” His voice was matter-of-fact but Ayumu could sense the barely contained edge of seething hatred Mahad no doubt carried for him. 

Ayumu couldn't blame him, but did not relish the idea of sharing the planet with the priest again.  


“Then why am I still here? Why are you two?” Atem asked in a voice afraid to question it but needing an answer.

“Of course you're still here. We won and the condition was that you stayed if we won.” Yuugi was already on his feet and walked over to Atem, offering a hand.

“And as for us I think somebody just goofed!” Mana giggled and jumped to her feet. “But prince! You did it! You-”

“Mana!” Mahad cut in, exasperated. “How many times do I have to tell you he's not the prince anymore! He's-”

“Not the pharaoh anymore, either,” Atem said. “I'm just Atem now.”

“Oh that's right we can say your name again now! Atem Atem Atem Atem Atem…” Mana kept going for as long as her breath could take her, and hugged him hard, threatening the precarious balance he had gotten on his feet with Yuugi's help. She gasped at the end of the stream of syllables. “Had to make up for lost time.”

Ayumu was still reeling. It seemed unreal.“So that's just it then? This is life now? We're just… here? No strings attached, no awful catches, just? Existing?”  


Bakura smiled and shook his head. “No, Ayumu. Not existing. Living.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap. 12 Title: The Last of the Real Ones by Fall Out Boy  
(i really like the mania album okay)
> 
> It's finally over, I say, as though I didn't edit and post this pretty much all in one night. But still, wow, I forgot how many emotions i forced myself into while writing this. Hot Damn. Apologies again for the crunchy duel sequence. Konami make Diabound God of the Betrayed an actual card 2kWhenever. Konami make a Good and Playable trading card version of Diabound 2kWhenever. I'd play that deck.  
Everything is justified with Because Magic That's Why bc that's how it worked in canon and I don't have to explain myself to anyone. I'd like to make a series out of this (maybe give Kisara some closure next) but before that I'm gonna go sit in a corner and work on my own D&D campaign and probably some unrelated fluff that may or may not ever get posted and all kinds of other stuff. We'll see.
> 
> Thanks to anyone who reads this whole thing. Braver than any US marine. Take care of yourselves, Much Love To You All <3 <3

**Author's Note:**

> both the work title and all chapter titles are song lyrics bc I'm Like That. credits for said lyrics will be at the end notes of each chapter (assuming I do this correctly lol)
> 
> Work Title: Pompei by Bastille  
Chap. One Title: Hold Me Tight Or Don't by Fall Out Boy


End file.
